SLY 4:Thieves of a kind
by scout-islander
Summary: An adaption of an idea for a fourth game in the series. The chapters are started with an extract from sly like the animated cutscenes. Sly has to follow the advice of Mcsweeny and collect the pieces of the cooper emblem.
1. prologue

The road was long and daunting, as car after car made its way down. The early hours of the morning had a profound effect on the lanscape and the animals inhabiting it. The music played long into the night as inspector fox drove back to the station. A little bit of music simply helped the evening seem endless, with no time constraints or worries of returning. Sly was snoring away on the back seat, jerking whenever she made a turn. She looked out at the road that stretched before her into the dark landscape, and thoughts of interpol came flooding back. Recent days had proven sore, but she would make sure not to breathe a word of it to her husband. But she looked back at his sleeping form on the back seat, and assured herself of the situation. He would'nt remember the years that had haunted thier lives for so long. Every day she had wondered if he really knew, but it wasn't exactly the kind of thing to bring up at breakfast. But this was the least of her worries. Without Sly, how could she compltely finish the job? It looked like she'd have to bring in the mercs again...

the intercom blared into life.

"all units to the louvre! Thief surrounded...need inside officers...repeat, all units..."

Sly awoke, and had to clutch hold of the seat as carmelita swerved to the open road. The sound of a police siren blaring, she grunted with disaproval as she turned off down a backroad, and found herself hurtling down a small road to paris. Sly began to relax. He knew how his wife could be around simple thief cases. Carmelita took a look back to see a very small smile playing about his lips, but suprised to see him ask no questions. Pressing on, the police car soon arrived at the louvre itself.

Sly headed out of the car towards one of the officers.

"whats up here then?" sly saw the cop give a start.

"some idiot tripped the alarm. We haven't got any men in because we could get fried." he narrowed his eyes. "say, aint you the dude who can get through lasers?"

"yeah, I think I could make a way through. carmelita," he turned to his wife, "you stay here. I need to do this one alone." Carmelita nodded, but paused and looked back as he made his way through the open door. Picking up her shock gun, she followed her husband down a backroad.

Sly headed through the front and was immeadiately confronted by a sreies of lasers. He was glad carmelita had not followed him, or he may have shown too much previous knowledge. As he hade his way down the light assemble, he began to think of why he was hiding his abilities. Carmelita still didn't know that sly had never recieved amnesia after his last bought against dr m. After all, he recieved many shots from carmelita...why should Dr Ms have been any different? Coming from a long line of thieves had certainly heightened everything he could take. But he now had wanted a rest...a time to actually make firm contact with his newly found wife. Thier partnership had created an whirlwind romance and a powerful team against the thieves of today. It was everything he ever wanted. Soon he was hoping to really settle down , and continue his legacy. But the cooper emblem piece, if rumors were true, was hidden inside the louvre itself. But he'd have to think about it later-he had police work to do. He suddenly came across the crumpled heap of the supposed thief. Lifting him up he realised it was none other than...

"Dimitri?" The purple lizrd before him brushed himself down.

"Ah, the world turn upside down...cooper is cop, and dimitri is cracker box!" Dimitri stood hunched and coughed loudly.

sly was taken aback. He was expecting a petty thief, but dimitri? it didn't add up.

"Of all people? Didn't bently say something about you being legit?"

"the money is big time, the girls is coming in, but the heart is empty bro! No scuba-fishy-diving life for dimitri, the art, the kinetic esthetic is where Dimitri is greasy sweet!"

Sly sighed. "let me guess..you came here to take a couple of masterpieces and forge them? man, you are stupid. I would've thought you'd just stay with the money!"

Dimitri lost his cool, and began to come down on sly. "Now look cracker box, I know all about you're little emblem piece hunt, I've got people in mucho high places, big cheeses of bread bro. You need to find main man murray and main little guy bently eh? then you come to the right cheese. You gonna have to ditch cop lady..."

Carmelita entered the building to find that evrything was back in its place. Except for...picking up a note she saw that sly wasn't coming back...

_And just like that, it was over. I was happy that she had even accepted me, but deep down i knew she wouldn't dare go near me again.and yet...this wasn't about the heists anymore. I knew that I had touched a nerve that made her fear for my safety. But Life was going to be very...well, samey..._

_I come from a long line of master thieves. People stretching as far back as ancient egypt contributed to the many legacys of the cooper clan, from the thievius racoonus to the cooper vault.Many people are jealous of this, and angry at the way we use our powers. Our policy is that if you can rip off a master criminal, you become a master thief. My childhood was cut pretty short though, as an enemy of my family decided he wanted to take out what was close to me. He probably didn't realise that he'd set me up for life and payback, making friends at the orphanage i ended up in that would become my lifelong pals...bently, the brains, and murray, the brawn. First we would tackle those who hated our reputation, then one who would win me the heart of inspector fox. But ever since then, i'd been doubtful. especialy after a meeting with mcsweeny. ever since i'd become a cop, I was making contact with the guy twenty four seven. A recent bonus was that he'd wanted me to pull off some heists. I said no, being retired and all, but changed my mind when he told me the reason...another cooper family member had been uncovered. My cousin, soon to be found, had recently died, but had left a great wealth of a cooper emblem, which would be passed down to me. But, as always, there was a catch. The parts of the emblem had been scattered all over the world, and i knew I'd need a team to get it back. _

_I'm gonna need a gang. The old gang. Does Dimitri count as a member?_

_SLY: THIEVES OF A KIND _


	2. A wrong turn down main street

_With the prospect of getting the gang back together, I knew i couldn't just leave my options open with dimitri. contacting bently and murray, i discovered that they were having a reunion in new york to see murray make the big time as a stunt double for famous hollywood actor boris alsto. It was great to see that the gang had really worked to make themselves better, and seeing murray hit the big time would make this cooper very happy. Packing my bags (and dimtri) i headed over. It was gonna be great to see the gang again, bu i'm kinda worried, especially thanks to the info from dimitris contacts on some guy called 'the champ'_

_Story goes that the champ was once a big time boxing loser, and it was only when he tripped a huge contender that he grew a love for cheating.This slowly grew to him getting people to bet that he'd win, and it wasn't long before he began a small criminal outlet growing to a powerful crime ring. even worse, he forces local slum families to finance his growing empire earnt on winnings, and managed to aquire an amazing brain intellect from his coach turned scientist. With his guard patrolling the slums, I feel worried for murray...after all, it's his home. Time to bring along some cooper and...er...'greasy sweet' pain._

_SLY AND THEN GANG IN:_

_A WRONG TURN DOWN 42ND STREET_

"SLY!" sly turned in the direction of the nasaly voice calling to him, and found himself face to face with bently, a huge smile across his face. The turtle rolled up to sly in his wheelchair, dodging the crowded streets of manhattan. Thier disguises were obviously working, as they quickly glanced at a passing officer. They just stood thier, and tears welled up in bentlys eyes. It had certainly been a long time. Sly was so happy to see his old friend, and motioned to him to move out of the crowd. They began to move together.

"it's good to see you pal," said sly, as they neared a local coffee bar,"I...I guess you know about the emblem."

"Of course," the two friends sat at a small table in the far corner, and bently looked the menu over. After deciding there was nothing he liked, he looked up at sly. "The emblem pieces. I've been checking into the first couple of locations of them for a couple of days. I've got a plan, but it'll be useless unless murray agrees to join. Penelope and I have already set up a special camera around the mysterious 'champs' work place, and we've already got a lead on how he's going to use his money. The first cooper emblem piece is going to cost him alot of dollars, and he needs to win the next big match to earn it. so..."

Sly smiled."...so we're going to have to make him lose, and we need murray to take him down." he leaned back in his seat. "this could be made easier after we find out why this champ guy wants the emblem so bad."

Bently nodded to a nearby waiter, and they ordered drinks. After he'd gone, bently looked at his watch, and tapped slys foot as he did so, passing him his binnoccucom. Sly hid it in his bag, and bently sat upright once more. "Sly, I need you to take some reconnaisance photos of the champs factory, and find out what he and his coach are up to."

"just like old times then" grinned sly, and drank his cappuchino. But the door swung open, and a small figure in dark glasses. He had a purple beard, and walked with a slight squat. He headed towards the table that the two pals were sitting at, and began to talk to bently in an unchomprehensible language. "Diksha, hm?" said sly, recognition all over his face, "It's good to see you guru."

The gang took thier seats as the crowd watched the pink hippo get into gear. It wasn't everyday that the public got to see a live recording for a hollywood film. As sly was getting relaxed, a couple began to sit in front of him. This was annoying, as the man who sat in front of him blocked his view completely. It may have only been a rehersal recording, but sly still wanted to see this. He tapped the big guy on the back.

"excuse me sir, but i'm afraid..."

the man suddenly turned to face sly, and sly stopped in an instant.

"panda king? how...penelope?" sly saw the woman sitting next to him wink. So, bently had managed to get the entire gang together...this would mean that the cooper gang had definitely grown it's ranks to those who would from now on stick by it. He only wished he could've skipped dimitri. Murray was just getting into the van, and gave a thumbs up to the director. The guy nodded, and murray fastened his seat belt. And before sly could blink, Murray had launched the van into high gear. The audience was amazed as Murray swerved in and out of stunt cops, over a fake bridge and over a ramp desighned to look like a roller coaster. When it was done, he opened the door to the sound of cheering. once the cheering stopped, the gang came down to congratulate him.

"Did you see thayt bently, how I was all like "I'm gonna run you over," and everyone was all like "noooooooo!!!!!", and,and...SLY!" Murray picked up sly and gave him the ultimate bear hug. Sly laughed.

"Ha, easy big guy. I missed you too. But I suppose you know why we're all here..."

"Sly, before you say anything," murray cleared his throat," I know I've been doing pretty well over the past few months, but it hasn't changed anything. I'm here for you pal. Always."

Sly slipped through the sewer tube and swam. Urgh, he'd always hated sewers. Being a thief he'd spent alot of time in them though. As he submursed, he began to think of why Dr M had turned against his father. He knew bently had been happy to see him, but what if those feelings of being second best returned? He really wanted bently to realise that he really was the person who made it a team effort. He admired bently too much, a fact he'd never dared to reveal to him. But, he thought, maybe it was time he did. He'd always wished he had bentlys smarts, but always treated him as a friend. Because they were. Always would be. Rising to the surface again, he took a look round and got out the binnoccucom. He picked up the signal for bently to talk to him.

"bently, do you copy?" the binnoccucom buzzed into life.

"Roger that sly. I need you to take a few photos of the boss and his coach and see why he wants the emblem so bad. Now, i've outfitted the com with a powerful device that allows you to pick up frequency vibrations, so you can hear from miles away from your target." Bently switched to stand by, and sly watched as the champ entered the factory, followed by his coach, a phirana in a bowl operated by machinery body parts. The champ himself was a fierce badger, wearing red boxing gloves and walking slowly. He began to motion to his coach.

"Ya see this? All this looks too downbeat? And what in tarnation is up with these pots?" He randomly gestured towards an empty shelf, and his coach sighed.

"Oh dear, it looks like you need a bit more brain juice..." And with the flick of a button, the large badger clutched its head and cried out as it's brain intellect went up. The badger got up, and looked round.

"I believe that we are making an inquirery into the purchase of the cooper emblem. Why is it that you want it, leroy?" Leroy muttered something under his breath, and the badger lifted him into the air. "look, inferior, I don't know why I'm blowing ten thousand on some stupid piece of junk, but I know that you make good choices. If you're not going to tell me how it works, you just better hope for your sake it will. And don't EVER forget to increase my brain juice ever again! I'll be going now, so you sit tight like the good little fish you are." The Champ left through a code door, but the small coach began to mutter to himself.

"You may trust my judgement, but mark my words, once I retrieve that piece of the cooper emblem, I shall have unlimited power. Little does he know just how powerful the emblem piece is, as it grants you the power of a thief! I shall use it to destroy my 'champ', and then create an empire for myself! I shall be the victor! A HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Bently paced up and down as panda king finally enetered the safe house. He looked up at his team members, and claered his throat.

"Okay everybody, I want you to really pay attention. The first thing you'll notice is that we can't enter the champs base until we take out the security he's set up around a perimeter. Sly, you'll have to go with me as we infiltrate the champs thug house, where i'll goad a few guards ouside. Take thier costumes, and we'll head back. Panda king and Dimitri, I want you to open the other entrance to the factory. Once thats done, I'll have Murray enter himself as the final contender against the champ. If I've done my math right, and I always do my math right, Murray will win and Leroy is sure to try and escape. We'll have to improvise from there."

Sly nodded and everyone scattered to thier positions. Bently an Sly headed towards the thug house, and bently began to think about the Dr M incident. It had been unfair for him to treat sly that way back then. At least he had friends during the clockwerk escapade...M had made it so that sly would have no-one to fall back on. As they finally arrived at the thug house, sly nodded and bently headed inside. He sideled up to a kangaroo boxer and began to deal some cards. The boxer nodded and followed suit, eventually each with thier own hand. Bently yawned and quickly swapped an ace. The boxer saw the cheat and stood up.

"outside, NOW!" he growled and bently headed out. The minute the boxer made it sly flipped him into the air.

"Nice going pal, that took, what, ten seconds? twenty tops."

Bently checked his watch. "eleven point three seconds. Come on sly, I need you to sign murray up and bet as much as you can on him."

Dimitri surfaced inside the factory pool. He made sure the coast was clear, lept out, and punched in the door code. Panda king bustled through, and took a look round. He pointed towards the heavy door at the back. "There is the door the turtle told us of." He headed over and began to size up the door for weak points. Dimitri looked on.

"Bro, do you mind if i ask somethin?"

"Of course, go ahead"

Dimitri shuffled his feet in an embarrassed way.

"are you okay with following racoonus doodus? I only fought him...You killed his..." his words faded away to a mumble. The panda king paused.

"Cooper is a fantastic example of showing us how to be acceptant. I killed his father, yet he still trusts me and forgives. I only wish I had not been pulled in by clockwerks offer."He stopped and looked at Dimitri, and instead of seeing a cool ego-maniac he saw a young, shy boy. "I know you must be feeling the same way with your former boss arpeggio. You have already shown humility through helping his cause. Do not think badly of your actions. now, stand back..." The Panda king and dimitri took cover as the door burst off it's hinges and the two quickly made thier escape.

"So you want to enter this guy?" The door man weasel stared at sly, now dressed as a guard, and then murray.

"Of course, he's the best there is. Do you know how many guys this dude can take out in one go? He could easily take on the champ." the doorman eyed him, but sly kept his cool. "In fact, I'm willing to bet all I've got just to show my trust In him!" The weasels eyes sparkeled with the thought of money.

"Fine, I'll let you enter him. No way he'll beat our champ though." Sly wrote the bet down, and murray found himself being taken to the warm up room. He was absolutely thrilled-back with the gang, just as he should be! He began to try the punching bag when he saw the champ enter. Keeping his distance, Murray eyed his opponents fighting style. It was all set, and Murray thought back to the Dr M incident. How was it that one guy had his friends wig out like that? They'd always been friends, and some moron had come along to try and change that. No way he was going to let anything like that happen again. He suddenly saw the champ fall to his knees and yell in pain. When he got up, he instantly turned to murray.

"Take a hike, inferior, this is my stronghold."

Murray backed off. "sorry man, I, er, didn't know you liked to scream in pain on your own. Like...totally cool with that..."

the champ gave a toothy smile. "new blood, eh? ha, your chances of winning are slim. If I see you here again you better make sure you've got a good excuse." and with that, the champ walked.

With everyone back at the safe house, Bently set up his cue cards.

"Right, It's time for a little thing I've called 'operation takedown'. Penelope, you'll launch your R.C chopper and take out the exits from the ring. I want you to use a grapple cam to keep watch over Leroy, as I know for a fact he'll be preparing a getaway in case his plan doesn't work. I want the guru to hide in the boxing ring as a rug and take on the champ with your hypnosis once Murrays beaten him. Rsm into the champ, with panda king and dimitri blowing up the base, and we're home free."

The audience began to set themselves up in the arena and wait for the match. bets were still being taken and People were all looking at the murray poster. Meanwhile, down below, Leroy was preparing his getaway items. this murray character looked tough, and it was clear the champ would have some trouble. Little did he know that a grapple cam was slowly following his every move. Leroy grabbed a towel, and headed upwards to the ring. Murray entered and a cheer went up, and the rhino announcer came onto the ring.

"In this corner, we have the powerful, the amazing, the ultimatum...It's the MURRRAY!" as the crowd cheered, murray began to flex his muscles.

"OH YEAH, THE MURRAY STANDS TALL! LIKE A FREAKIN TOTEM POLE!"

The announcer continued, " and in this corner it's the undefeatable and all powerful CHAMP!"

The champ growled and the audience cheered even louder. The powerful badger stared evilly at the pink hippo before him.

"I'm going to take your intestine and wrap it round your neck 17.5 times, and then ship you to the arizonas."

Murray grew red hot. "AND I'M GONNA RIP OUT YOUR RIBS, MAKE YOU PLAY XSLYLOPHONE ON 'EM AND FEED THEM TO YOUR FANS...ONE BY ONE!"

" OKAY PUNK, IT'S SHOWTIME!" the battle began. It was clear the champ was winning, as he backed murray into a corner. But just as he threw a punch, murray grabbed his hand a yanked him forward and out of the ring. A random guy rushed over. He gasped.

"Man, that's like the fastest time I've seen anyone get another dude out of the ring!" But the badger got up, pushed the guy aside and got back into the ring. No way was the champ going to be beaten so easily. Leroy began to blubber with excitement and thrash around in his fishbowl. Murray Gave an uppercut, and drove the champ right into the center, and finished with a thunder flop. But the champ was wise to murrays games, and began to juggle him with his feet. Bently noticed one of the guards holding a remote labelled "gravity boot remote" Using his magnet, bently swiped it away and the fight continued. Murray was getting pounded, until just as the champ stuck his foot out, murray ducked and flipped his foot instead. The champ then screamed as bently threw the remote at Leroys brain juice box. The champ squirmed for all he was worth, but to no avail. His face suddenly became simple, and he fell to the ground. Leroy was stunned, but his heart sank further when he saw how the entrance was barred. He ran to the entrance, pushed the guards aside, and rushed out. But the guru had already lept up and taken control of the champ. In one swift move Leroy turned to see a stupified champ hurtle towards him. Leroy escaped, but was hoisted into the air by penelopes R.C chopper. He cried to the heavens.

"You think this is it, huh?" He quickly shot at the r.cchopper and hovered down to a rooftop. Sly was already en route, and confronted the fish.

"Give it up Leroy, only one of us is getting the cooper piece...the other's going to jail."

"Oh really?" lisped Leroy, his mouth quivering, "Well, you must be sly cooper! So that's why you sabotaged my little operation. I'm not going down so easy! You will be the first to witness the full fury of my super powered mechanic upgrade I added! HAHA!" Sly had to duck as the manical phirana laughed like some tortured sprite. Sly knew that there was only one was to beat this guy, and he suddenly faked a trip.

"Oh...No...I'm gonna fall..." And he did. Leroy looked over the building and crowed triumphantly.

"at last, Leroy proves himself mammals better as the fish father!" But before he could finish, he fet his bowl being lifted out of him mechanical frame. "YOU WOULDN'T!" he gasped. Sly smiled and tipped the bowl.

"oh, I would." A boom came from the distance as sly watched the now destroyed factory go up in smoke, and could make out the figures of panda king and dimitri turning tail and running...

_Leroy flopped about on the roof as carmelita and the cops showed up. Knowing that it was me who got him, she seemed quite pleased. After all, Leroy had been using illeagal brain enhancers to torture the champ, and had been endorsing the cheating of illegal boxing matches. It 's nice to know that I still did some good. _

_We entered the sale, got our hands on the piece (with a little haggling from dimitri) and got out of there. I figured the gang could use a break, so we watched murray complete his filming, and even saw some sights. It was a shock to see panda king pulled from the audience we were in at a broadway play to join in. He certainly gave them the best firework show they'd ever seen. I knew i was still not used to this whole big cooper gang, but it was growing one me. Thanks guys. We've made a breakthrough._


	3. a winter reunion

_The next piece of the emblem didn't show up the next day, or the day after that. But what did show up was some terrifying news up in st. petersburg...the resurfacing of a mechanic called Bastof. The mechanic who they claim to have built clockwerk. _

_Bastof was a russian mechanic who worked day and night to develop immortality. When a russian owl called clockwerk came with an awnser of using hate to fuel it, it wasn't long before clockwerk was reborn as the menace I once knew. The reason I had to stop this guy was simply because he could easily replicate clockwerk, and rumor has it that he owed the big guy a favour._

_He's currently holed up in a huge base, and paranoia that the cooper gang will take revenge on him for building clockwerk has forced him to hire the best guards in russia. And, by the looks of things, I'm gonna be the one to take them all out. Just when I thought it was over..._

_SLY AND THE GANG IN:_

_A WINTER REUNION _

Penelope checked that no-ne could see her, and scouted out at the base. She stared as the most heavily armoured plane flew past. Sly saw it too, and shuddered. It reminded him too much of his old enemy. Murray swerved a corner and radioed sly. Sly turned to penelope.

"we just got ouselves a safehouse. No doubt you know what Bentlys doing." Penelope turned away, and pused. She turned back and asked sly:

"What's your deal with this clockwerk guy anyway?"

Now it was slys turn to look away. He finally came out with an awnser.

"Clockwerk was jealous of my familys thieving reputation. He was too big and viscious to ever be a thief, so he stuck it out for a couple of years, fuelled by his hate for my family. It was so strong that it kept him alive for thousands of years. He hated everything I did. I honestly thought it would be over by now. guess I was wrong." He looked back at penelope. "this was one of the reasons I didn't want a bigger team...I was afraid that my burden would hurt someone. It did. Clockwerks the reason bently can't walk."

Penelope gave a visible start, but decided to leave it at that. It was too much for her to take in at this point. How could someone be THAT dangerous? Surely...or mybe...It defied all logic. Clockwerks hate must have been more powerful than she could percieve. The two thieves looked up as murray pounded five guards without breaking a sweat. He drove the car into the hold while bently set up a protective fence. It was finally time for Sly to get to work on the recon photos. Using the co-ordinates Bently had given him, Sly headed down towards the base, finding the one place bastof had not covered...a simple air vent. Climbing through Sly noticed how dated everything had looked, yet more advanced because of it. And petersburg was certainly beautiful in the winter. Things were looking grim in Bastofs lair...the walls were outlined with Clockerk designs, but none were anything to do with rebuilding it. One had been scribbled out in red pen and underneath the word "FAILURE" had been scrawled. hiding on top of a boiler sly saw Bastof himself...he could only make out some of his face, but noted the bats russian winter gear, the green coat with sleeves going over his hands, and the hat with the huge red star on it. Sly took photos of the plans and the huge dome like boiler (bently commented how menacing it looked rather than useful). But he couldn't help thinking about how a direct approach could be so much simpler. Suddenly, Bastof began talking, and sly listened in.

"No, I want to dismantle it...tell petro to bring in the guards tomorrow. this is going to be the biggest job of them all. I despise clockwerk, and I need to destroy the new clockwerk frame and his followers. I shall use the clockwerk propaganda to boost his interest. Once that's done, I shall Put my clockwerk bomb plane to use. And finally, I shall display his frame at the embassy ball, Have all those loyal to him make a speech, and blow them all to kingdom come! My experiment is working perfectly..." sly shuddered. This maniac was not only willing to brainwash through propagander, he was also willing to use clockwerk as a front to commit homocide. This was going to be a tough job.

Back at the safehouse, murmurings were breaking out about clockwerk, the way he'd hunted the family and how he'd been thier worst nightmare. Half of the team didn't even know who he was, and they recieved the news with extra thought. Bently headed over to the projector, and only sly and murray could see that his hands were shaking. He finally hushed everyone, and continued with the presentation.

"Okay, we've been presented with a set of challenging problems. Bastof has posted planes all over the place in an effort to boost his fire power. I'm going to need the panda king to take them out, which should cause the boss's zeppelin to bring in more planes. Destroy that, and the skys will be clear to destroy the clockwerk bomber.The plan also requires sly to dress up as one of the guards and ask one of them how Bastof is going to blow up the embassy.I'll then go with Penelope and murray and we'll help dimitri sink the clockwerk Propaganda shop. This should be enough for phase one. Good luck."

Sly walked into the street in his guard outfit and once again remarked how beautiful the snowy scene before him was. It was a shame that Bastof wouldn't ever look up from his work to see it. no wonder he was so lifeless. Sly was suddenly spotted by one of the guards and, after giving them the correct password as submitted by bently, he decided to make the first move.

"Excuse me comrade, but don't you think it's a fine day?"

The guard nodded. "Indeed. It's a shame to be working on a day like this. Are you by any chance heading down to the embassy tommorrow?"

"No, but I would like to know what the boss has planned. I hear it's going to be tragic." once again the guard nodded.

"Yes, it will be. I've had to keep my family away. The best person to ask about that is probably Boris. He hangs out in the cofee house."

"thanks for the tip," said sly, and he continued to the cofee house.

Sly Found Boris right up at the bar, and decided to ask him straight out. Telling him what he had been told, Boris considered.

"The boss is going to plant a bomb controlled by a computor inside clockwerk. Me and the boys know for a fact that it won't work though."

"how so?" asked sly.

"clockwerk can survive the bomb. Between you and me, there's gonna be a bit of a revolution against the boss, as we all hate the idea of more clockwerk business. He's obsessed by it. we know that if we could hack the computors, we could override it and destroy clockwerk. But we don't have a good enough hacker."

"oh,don't worry" sly grinned, "I know a good hacker."

Panda king set up his fireworks. He knew that while these planes would only be the warm up in preperation for the big bomber, they would contribute greatly to the completion of the plan. Suddenly, he saw a flicker of life within the mirror on the turret. It was that of his yang self.

"pathetic. Your old benefactor clockwerk returns in spirit and yet you still refuse to give up cooper to your enemy. how many years did you spend in his servitude? are you really going to let it pass you by a second time?"

The panda king shook his head. Could his mind really be so demented?

"you assume the worst. If I had really joined clockwerk then you would have destroyed yourself."

"How? I know how to keep myself in place.You could be rich! You could be me!" what was scary was how the king knew his other self was right. But this time he would ignore him and continue with the job in hand. But even as his fireworks took out the many planes, he still consoled himself. Bastof too was fighting his clockwerk half, and he could really relate to that. When clockwerk had taken him in, he had been offered a fortune, a home for his daughter, and revenge on those who had failed to cure his wife. Panda king began to look at himself in the mirror again. He had convinced himself that his wifes death had caused his evilness, but it just wasn't so. King had become a villain thanks to the blind eyes of the chinese nobles. And these events had fractured his phsyce. He thought back to dimitris words back in manhattan. How mixed he felt. After all, his mind was not always his own...

He kept taking out planes, with support from bently all the way. His mind was focused. His mind was clear...Bastof had seen the disturbance, and launched a heavy assult. King dodged, but not before destroying the zepplin carrying the planes. keeping a low profile, the panda king went back to the safehouse to further explore his conflicting feelings.

Bently gave himself a position on top of the roof of the propaganda building. He and penelope stared at the water.

"Dimitri is probably just setting up the bombs. He always takes his time."

Penelope nodded, and looked below to see murray. He looked up at the couple and awaited thier awnser.

"So" penelope called down, "you know what to do?"

"Sure, smash everything in sight, take down all the guards, and use anything around me to smash up the building. And according to you guys, If I can break everything, the whole place will fall apart and the foundations'll sink right?"

penelope nodded, and murray got ready. "This is going to be so awsome!"

Bently shook his head. "Why do I feel like creating my own theory of relativity will be easier than

this job?"

Murray had already smashed apart a couple of pillars and was getting ready to destroy some guards. Dimitri planted the bombs carefully underneath each beam until...

"AHHHK!" he stared down at his leg to see a huge tentacle made of steel was pulling him down.

"smokey alert! FREAK OUT! Big bad beast attack at twelve fifteen! We be boppin our way to the suface shine bro!" Bently sighed. It looked like he'd have to solve the plan again.

"Penelope, I want you to hoist murray with you R.C chopper and get him to thunder flop. NOW!"

"No problem!" penelope used the chopper to grab murray, and as the terrified guards looked above at the shining light, it created the ultimate moment.

"Anonymous meatheads, YOUR ANGEL OF CHAOS IS GONNA MAKE SOME PANCAKES! THUNDER FLOP!" And as murray hit the ground and bounced clear, the entire building fell to the sea, and the clockwerk propagander was lost.

Bastof glared down over his area. It hadn't been a productive day, especially when tonight was the night that he neededhis bombers to scout. No matter, he remarked, the clockwerk bomber would do just nicely. His worn face drooped, and he put a hand to his robotic reminder. Soon, there would be nothing left of clockwerks own thieving empire. Bastof too had seen the abdication of his countries tsar, the rise of Lenin and Stalin. The rule of hitler and defeat of the war hero otto van cooper. All because of immortality had he witnessed it all. He was a man out of place in this world. He broke down, and sobbed over the clockwerk plans.

The Guru began to struggle on his hands and knees as he viewed the depths of the destroyed shop. Nothing but Debris as far as he could see. The Guru thought back to his first days with the gang. Had it really been two years? He couldn't remember himself. He dipped his finger into the pool and gave it a taste. Machinery, iron and steam, over a couple of fathoms down. He stood, raised his staff, and began to chant in a language only a few could comprehend. All of a sudden a huge, steam belching octopus shaped submarine rose, and the guards inside, shocked at how thier veichle suddenly rose like it was alive, jumped over board. The creature promptly attempted to attack the Guru, but he stood firm. Still chanting, the guru looked on as the creature spluttered, judded, and stopped as it blew apart. What was left of it happened to be a huge control wheel, and he believed that it certainly could come in useful... Murray bounced up to him and began going crazy.

"Master, that was so awsome! like, you totally showed that creature who's boss! I wouldn't wanna mess with you!"

Bently rolled towards his two friends.

"That was incredible, mr guru! We'll find a use for that wheel...right now, it's time to review back at the safe house."

Sly reached for Bastofs last key...and got it. All he'd have to do now was head back to the boiler. Creeping through yet another vent, sly came across a terrifying gauntlet of axes, swords, hammers and ropes. And he smiled.

"Piece of cake."

Sly made it through every twist and turn, but his head was too busy thinking about clockwerks return...no. It wouldn't happen again. But supposing it did? Sly could only see a tragedy, the death of his friends and loved ones. His cousin would have actually have been the first cooper to die of natural causes. He was the lucky one, but he would never know of clockwerk. Sly inserted the keys and watched the boiler deactivate. Bently cmae up over the intercom ,but before he could congratulate sly, his friend had already had the first word.

"Look, bently, i've been thinking... maybe a direct approach to this bastof guy could be what we're looking for."

Bently made an agreement. "You think If we tell him how dangerous the situation is he might back off?"

"Yeah, i'll discuss it with you later. I'll just head back. lots to do, hey pal?"

"too true sly. see you there."

The panda king grabbed the bazooka and waited for the Bomber to show up. It did, bringing nothing with it. Good, thought King, this will make things easier. Sly looked up and watched the bomber circle the safe house. He shuddered...It was almost like bastof was obsessed with clockwerk in order to fill a purpose for his hatred. Bently blocked his ears as he heard the panda kings fireworks maken the first mark. He looked at Sly to see that he was actually shaking, terrified at how clockwerk could suddenly appear. It had only been three days of the gang being together, pushing four, and he had involved more people with the turmoil than ever before. Bently rolled over to sly, and in a decisive moment, patted his hand. Bently had already recieved his share of clockwerks curse, he knew how sly must be feeling. It was time to act.

"Sly, I believe that the idea of a direct approach to our target would prove effective. But the destruction of the embassy ball plot must go according to plan."

Sly nodded, and looked up at his old friend.

"I hear you pal, we need to take down clockwerk and bastof. Heh...notice how I keep referring to him as though he's still alive. Bently, you know how silly this whole business is. It's just getting repetetive, and he's already hurt me. Why won't he just go away?" A bit of debris hit the roof, and the roar of the panda king could be heard. Bently sighed and shrugged. He was at a complete loss for words. And in an abrupt move, he asked...

"Sly, do you wanna sit this one out? Before you awnser, I want you to know that the plan will work, I just feel you're under alot of stress. Especially with leaving carme... wait!" Bently excited went over to his plan, scribbled over a couple of lines and presented it to sly.

"Before I was worried that there was no explosion powerful enough to destory the frame without hurting or injuring the members attending the embassy. We need to place a discreet signal of a fake e-mail to carmelita asking her to arrive here. Then, we'll pretend to be the guards having a discussion of the plan. She's sure to take herself, the new jail warden and several guards undercover to the ball, where she will evacuate everbody when the ambassador begins the clockwerk selling pitch. She's bound to also show them the criminal truth behind him, and while thy're outside, boom!"

Sly smiled. This plan could actually be capable of destoring the parts. With no hate chip, the renewed clockwerk would be obliterated. But he was still in doubt about Bastof. Why would someone who truly hated clockwerk own a better version? He may have been fractured, but...could this have been the favour.

The Emabassy ball had gotten off to a perfect start. Carmelita drank champagne at the corner of the room, stayng close to the clockwerk frame. It was amazing to see the amount of people who still worshipped the old birds words. She looked for Lt. Gronk to see him at the buffet table gorging himself. The two guards she'd overheard certainly got it right. The minute the bidding started, she would evaccuate the members. It was a dead affair anyway. Too many snobs wandering around.

Bently had already hacked into the system, and looked overhead as the ambassador took his place above the owl. Sly got to work and pickpocketed the guards weaponary. It was all going according to plan. The ambassador took to the stage.

"Good evening everyone. It is with great priveledge that I present the rich folk of the world with a non-powered clockwerk frame. How much do I...ahhrghh!" The ambassador found himself lifted into the air by a huge gorilla like man, with a young police woman cuffing him. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I am Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox, and you are under arrest for attempting to auction a potential weapon of mass destruction...and this is coming from experience. Clockwerk was a criminal, and so are those who deal with him."

Once the hall had been evaccuated, Sly ran towards the bomb timer. But just as he pressed it, a hidden Bastof ran towards the machine. It was too late...clockwerk was destroyed once more. Bastof turned to sly and pointed an accusing finger.

"YOU! My revenge was almost complete! I was going to kill those who had turned me into a weapon, and revive myself but you, cooper! you..."

Sly was confused now. The guy was babbling about nothing. Wasn't he supposed to be taking revenge against those who loved clockwerk? Suddenly Bastofs cap fell off of his head, and revealed half of his face... a clockwerk eye.

"Okay...just what is going on?"

"Sly, you must help me while I can still talk to you! Before I completed clockwerk he had accumulated an enourmous popularity among the people. When I tried to reveal his true purpose, he planted a spore deep inside me that would turn me into him. Luckily I found a way to stunt it, but our personalities still conflict. He wanted to kill the criminals for using him as a weapon, and wanted to obviously destroy you. I wanted to dismantle him, so he used all of his power to control my mind and made me build a new body...and I would be reborn!" Bastofs right eye glowed with hatred. "cooper, It is time I destroyed you. My revenge will be swift and painful, and soon I will be the true master thief, clockwer..." Sly wrenched his cane out and drove it into bastofs clockwerk eye. It grew dimmer until it was nothing but a yellow plate.

"That's it...I'm sick of this. It ends here, where no-one will dare hunt me or my family. Bastof, I want you to do it or I will, and god forbid I should ever do this but..." Bastof held up his hand.

"I know what you want me to do sly. I hate myself anywat, and have lived for too long" Sly gasped.

"No, I wanted you to burn the plans and destroy your research. It's alot to ask and..." But it was too late. Bastof removed the cane and pressed a button attatched to the clockwerk eye. It buzzed, and before sly could stop him, Bastof lay dead at his feet.

_I couldn't believe it. Clockwerk had claimed another life. The nightmare was well and truly over. But then how many times had I believed that? I decided to keep this to my self, as bently had left long before carmelita had made her announcement. Funny, I never thought it would end for him that way. I went back and destroyed the plans myself._

_The gang had a great week as we made our way north. It was so nice to see how relaxed we were after what was in my opinoin the toughest ordeal yet. And for the first time in my life, I realised how precious the time the gang spent together was. How blind I had been..._

_So In an overview, I could always say I feel happy, but Bastof will forever be my message to those who got caught up with me. I would have to accept it. The life of a cooper would never be an easy one._


	4. Terror, Plotting and Longboats

_It was freezing in Norway. Our sources had led us right to the next piece of the emblem, which is buried in a sheet of Ice. Murray, wanting to see the sights, took the guru for a walk with him to a local viking tour. Things went well, Until his tour ship got hijacked by a real group of vikings led by a warrior called Gasilja._

_Gasilja was once a popular insurance salesman, and went from door to door greeting the locals. In an unfortunate mistake, he somehow got his case stuck on the roof of a guy who obviouly didn't like salesmen, and before he could reach it, it hit the guy straight between the eyes, and he tumbled down the road to the river on the local viking tour boat. Awaking, the bump on his head must have messed him up, because the next thing they knew he had claimed he was a legendary viking warrior. Finding a couple of out of work actors, He set up his own crew to plunder ships._

_Hes got murry and the guru locked up tight in his wooden fortrss. Great...I hear the panda kings new fire work showers in flames. It's either that, or we let murray become viking lunch._

_SLY AND THE GANG IN:_

_TERROR, PLOTTING, AND LONGBOATS_

Murray tried as hard as he could to struggle free, but to no avail. His hands were held tightly to the trunk thanks to the powerful cord wrapped round his hands. He looked apologeticaly at the Guru, who was held inside a hanging cage. Murray stared sheepishly at the ground and picked up a stone. He began to fiddle with it, and studied it. It was smooth and round, like a shiny emerald. An image came up into his mind of a warm room with a small log fire, and a huge meadow outside. Then memories came hurtling back of clockwerk, and Bently attempting to plant a bomb in his mouth...and suddenly he found himself back where he was, clutching the stone. Openening his fist, he'd seen that he'd broken it. Tossing it aside, he looked up at the guru.

"I'm sorry master, I didn't know we were going to get captured, and that a bunch of pretend vikings would be all 'rarr' and we'd be all 'agggh' and...stuff."

The Guru just smiled. Murray was the true core to the team, no doubt. Guru had noticed Murrays heart the moment he'd taken him on board. All that time ago when Murray had walked the path of the dream time he'd shown great courage against the many challenges. But Guru was wise...he knew that it was best not to ever tell anyone else about this. If word got round...

Suddenly, a huge wodden door swung open, and Gasilja strided in. His eyes were incredibly fierce and piggy, and as he inspected the Guru he stoked his red bushy beard which bristled against his red bushy eyebrows. He finally spoke, and as he did so, his voice was heavy with a strong sweedish accent.

"Oh yes indoo-dy, I think the tides-a changin. I'll send the botha you into work on my sawmill, you-betcha. No...I'll get the HIPPO to work the sawmill, and the little guy can herd the sheep. Oh, yabutsky ka-dooodle." And with that the blue bull gave a monotonous parted laugh that sounded like several drowning donkeys, and left the room. The Guru took another look as Murray sat on his stool and twiddled his thumbs thoughtfully.

Sly took a look round the fortress...absolutely no sign of a door. He pulled out his binnoccucom, and tapped into Bentlys frequency.

"Hey, Bently, there's no way in. I mean it. The place is so simple and tight that you couldn't get a feather through that door...I've tried. Now, normally I'd improvise, but this..."

Bently paused, and Sly kept looking round. It was just impossible. There was absolutely no way into the base. He thought back to days against people like Jean Bison, Mz Ruby and Raleigh...they'd all been like this. Either obsessed with progress or fortresses that required a very large drill to bust into. Bently finally tapped in.

"Well sly, there is one way in but..er...well, I know you don't like water...You're gonna have to go through the watermill at the back. There's a waterfall some place there."

Sly acknolowged this, and headed towards the back. Ooh, Bently was right. The waterfall was like a miniture Niagra Falls. Climbing through, Sly told himself that once this was done, he would perfect his own water crawl technique.

Murray took two seconds to notice Slys approach. Giving a quiet cheer, Sly saw how Murrays eyes were filled with tears. It was pretty suprising, as Murray didn't normally give in so easily. But it was moments like this that made it all worth while. Sly put his finger to his lips, and used his stolen keys to open the two keys. He motioned to the back exit, and Murray ran over, lifting the catch an allowing the guys to escape. Murray ran after, and the sudden rush of energy set him smiling. He suddenly reflected on his previous instances. His first desicion to become 'the Murray' had been after his first ordeal with Sly. It had been great, but he hadn't realised until recently how he had become more nervous, his voice more weedy. Not the same new and improved Murray who had helped Sly and the gang in paris so long ago. As they turned a corner, Murray noticed the wave of guards heading towards them. Finally, he decided that if he was going to be the tough Murray, he'd have to get it right. He made his voice deeper, less gravelly, adopted his posture and yelled,

"BEWARE OF ME EVIL-DOERS, FOR THE MURRAY IS BACK!!" he turned to Sly.

"Stay back citezen, for 'the murray' shall eat through these guards like sherbet on a large wooden stick." Sly folded his arms and shook his head in awe.

"Woah Murray, you really sound like 'the Murray' Ihad to get used to, but don't blame yourself about Bently again. I know..."

"No Sly," Murray shook his head, "No. I'm not doing this out of guilt, i'm doing this because I want to show that I mean business. I'm a hippo of many faces and i'm not about to let myself lose my pride. Now.." He cleared his throat and readjusted his false heroism. "Stand back, sir." And Murray lept into the fray, with guards flying both left and right.

Gasilja was absolutely livid. In only four hours his entire fortress had collapsed around him. His face twitched as the fortress fell down around his ears. Grabbing a nearby servent he yelled,

"Fetch the boys and tell them that werea gonna find a new base, you-betcha. The Coopers may have won this one, but they still don't have the emblem piece now, you-betcha!"

Bently looked over his cards. Things were really brightning up for the gang, what with Gasiljas main base of operations down. Secretly smirking at the photos of Gasiljas face, he tapped on the projector and began.

"Well, it looks like Gasilja is in possession of the next emblem piece. His new saw mill is only just under way, and I know how hilarious it would be to see the big guys new place crumble. Together, we're going to have to purchase a longboat and all drive it towards the base while sly infiltrates the guards headquarters and takes them all out. One of them is bound to give out some info. We'll need a navigator, and i've already asked someone who should be arriving soon. If we play our cards right, and I always do thanks to a small theory I managed to develop known as the ace of shoes, we should destroy the new mill with ease. Lets do this and take even more photos to incriminate this nutjob and stop him terrorising the locals."

There was a sudden slam as the door slammed shut. The gang looked behind them to see a small figure in a very fashionable fur rimmed coat and hood entered. The figure removed the hood to reveal a winged helmet sitting upon a shy and young looking female penguin. she smiled, headed up to bently and took his hand. Penelope was the only one to see her bat her eyelids, and she turned away in disgust. No doubt this navigator would know bentlys theories too. the penguin smiled again.

"Hi, I'm miss Shelia Hellstrom. I think this is where I was supposed to be."

Bently nodded and led her over to the recon photos. Shiela revealed that she had been part of an expedition to the temples of the Aztecs. She was a freelancer who would gladly offer herself to the gang, in return to journey to the ruins and to help her revcover her group. Bently was a little reluctant, but eventually he agreed. Sly was staring through a large window at Bentlys newly aquired longboat. It was a shame he'd miss out on how the gang would steer it...

Bently stood at the helm and began giving out orders.

"Okay, we're going to have to work this ship just as it used to be worked. Murray, Guru, Penelope and Dimitri will operate the oars..."

Dimitri gave an outrageous cry.

"Wha! ME! STEER! Are you loco? Although I admit my sexy muscles could drive ten of these babies no way, no how am I gonna even lift a finger to DRIVE!"

Bently raised a questioning brow. "Okay, what were you going to do?"

"I want to bang drums to rowing beat, like in big viking movies!"

"That's Panda King. Now get to your stations and lets drive!"

As the boat went on, Dimitri groaned as he readied himself at the oar. Bently made a signal and the King began to beat the drums, and the team pulled the oars. By now Bently could see Dimitri was falling backwards and thus causing the boat to spin round and round. This was also due to the lack of rowers on the opposite side, but Penelope had created a multi limbed machine to sort this. Panda King watched Dimitri pull the oars and groan.

"Okay, I understand now...no more Dimitri telling funky chickens like you that he is living macho french loverboy! Not cool bro!"

Shelia was pretty confused. She looked over the memo Bently had sent...it looked right. They wanted a navigator who was so good they could taste materials and villiages on the wind. And she could. But these guys looked like they were doing more than just sightseeing. She thought back to the first time this had all happened. Bently had met with her and asked if she had really been as good as she said she was. Her love of the sea was something she aquired many years ago, and it was powerful enough for her to continue learning about it. At the current time she had been checking for signs of a nearby sawmill. It had come to mind that the group she was with didn't really seem like explorers, but they certainly weren't mercenaries. Something was going on here, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it...No, she would have to put all of her faith into them. Shelia secretly launched a signal (as she had been directed by Bently) to Sly. It was even more strange that the group didn't even seem to be accomplished rowers...

Sly opened the hatch to the cooridoor. This way he could bypass the main room and reach the area he was uncertain of. His goal was pretty clear though, defeat all of the guards inhabiting the building and then wait for the gang to do the rest. Opening the furthest door, he gasped-not only was there an enourmous gauntlet encircling a group of guards engrossed in arm wrestling with a few shark guards standing watch, but there was also a huge cascde of water coming in from all four corners of the room. He gulped.

"Oh boy. I Really need to discover a water walk move."

Carmelita drove down a long stretch of woodland and mountains with her new partner, constable Gwen at her side. The last exploit against the embassy had proved successful, and she began to think of how Sly must have been linked. She muttered to herself.

"Damn you Sly...why do we have to do this the hard way!" She had become pretty tired of Sly running again, AND he was a criminal again. After the investigation in petersburg, she had found the body of Bastof, realising waht must have happened thanks to the clockwerk eye in his skull. Carmelita knew that even though Sly was her husband, she would have to make a difficult desiscion, and Gwen had helped her make it over coffee that morning. As they looked over some magazines, Gwen had made some high pitched and careless remarks.

"Did you know coopers still about? Cooper, hahahaha 'snort' (One of Gwens annoying traits was her annoying laugh.) If I had my way, Cooper would be easy to put behind bars."

Carmelita gave Gwen a passing glance and, in a very as-a-matter-of-fact way said,

"Don't you find it interesting though how Cooper only steals from criminals? He has made sure that..."

"Are you kidding?" Gwen shook her head in girlish bewilderment.

"Coooper is a criminal. And not just a criminal. If we let even one escape from the law, imagine what several would do! Criminals murdered my brother...I don't want someone who could do that running around! It doesn't matter how big or small, they do it because they're finding it fun. Cooper probably did this just to rile the police force up. His historys too long to leave that out."

Carmelita had only just sighed. Because she knew she was right, and nothing could change that.

Crawling round five different water tubes had left slys fur soaked. He began to wring himself out, before remembering exactly why he didn't do that any more. Ooh, the heist in Nepal where he was supposed to arrive disguised as an aristocrat but due to an accident at the beach had come as a poodle. Eurgh, water. He focused his attentions onto the guards. And he lunged. A few moments later and fists were flying everywhere. Sly was absolutely going to win. Abso...

"Hault, you barbarious barbarions! Please don't forget that the brawl does not begin unless you wish to, say TAKE IT UP WITH ME AS I ENGULF A FLY AND POUND YOU INTO THE TERRA FIRMA!"

Sly gasped...He'd heard that voice...where? He hadn't time now, the intercom had gone off meaning the the person on the other end would most likely be making his way down. Sly rotated, dodged and finally slashed while spinning to take out the last few guards. As he did so the door clicked into life, but Sly was already halfway out of the now open hatch at the back, carefully locking it behind him. The metallic door slid open, and the figure walked through. Looking all round, he hopped over to the middle of the floor. "Where are the guards? WHERE? Oh, Gasilja is certain to take it up with me i'm sure...But what anomaly of the new era could possibly have...oh?" The figure picked up a small torn piece of cloth, and studied it. He snarled, and pounded the ground with his fist.

"COOPER!"

The gang began to row further and further back, pulling at the ropes of the boat attatched to the mills support. Murray was having a whale of a time.

"Ha, just like back in Holland. CLASSIC!" Muuray tried to smile at Bently, but when he turned round he saw that he was leaning over side.

"Please...ew...keep...rowing...BUUUUURP!"

Just as they pulled back, Dimitri suddenly gave a girlish cry. The entire crew turned to him, and he coughed manly and pointed upwards. They turned to see Gasilja enter the balcony the moment the wooden stand broke between the ramp. With a creaking groan the entire building fellinto the icy water. Gasilja, a little more than startled, was clinging on for dear life. He managed to get one hand free, and instantly noticed the flag of the ship.

"AHHH! COOPER GANG! Oh, now it's personal, you-betcha! Soon I shall have my revenge... and my new sawmill has just completed, blooperers! Oh yeah, you-betcha, Im going to-a have the last laugh. You're a dirty pack of thieves!"

Shelia gave a squeak and put her hand to her mouth. Her mind began working, until it all came together...

"Thieves?"

Bently and Sly stood together looking at the shivering Shelia wrapped in a towel at the back of the safehouse. Sly patted Bentlys shoulder.

"She'll get over it eventually. Everybody else did."

Bently gave Sly a tired look. All this work and Sly didn't seem to be at all bothered. Bently remembered dr Ms words...'why is it called the cooper gang?' But it was Murrays that ran clearer...'If you were there and sly was out here, he'd be happy following his friends dream...' It may not have been as dramatic, but in Bentlys mind it had been the most poiniagnt. He checked his watch and turned to Sly, but Sly was ready to speak...

"Look, Bently, Gasiljas got himself some help. I heard over the intercom at the guards stronghold. Listen, If we could find out who it is, I'm sure it would help greatly. He kinda sounded familliar."

"Sure Sly. Listen, I'm about to give a recon overview. Lets get this out of the way, and then we'll talk.."

Bently set up the stand, and made sure everyone was paying attention.

"Okay, everyone, just afew more things to do before my big operation bull fight. Murray, I need you and the guru to open the Icecream bar out of town. Gasilja loves it for some reason, and if you could infiltrate his final stronghold by simply knocking on the door, we'll have the guru hi-jack a guard. Sly, I need you to sign up and actually face Gasilja in the drama circle...no, really. He's a born actor over here. As you two quote, he's sure to show off to the spectators. The Guru will jump onto Gasilja, drive him into the drawbridge. The police are already coming to the area for a fundraiser, and if they just happen to see Gasilja in the open than it's sure to be all good. And Sly, I take it Carmelita might help you like back in New York...She'll be bound to help you now, right?"

Shelia was distraught. Being a good samaritan without a bad word against her, It was a change to find out she'd been working with a bunch of thieves. But she was not as pessimistic or biased as other-she knew that they must be doing this for a reason. Her own family had to steal to pay for Gasiljas antics in the past, leading to a run of luck, a knock on the door and the death of a sibling. And yet she still hadn't escaped the small area of Norway. Seven years had been harsh on her, supressing her personality and leading her to become a very qiuet child. But business must come before awnsers with these thieves. Maybe it would be best if... she began to dial the police number...

"Miss Hellstorm?" She turned to see bently, who was smiling.

"Put down the phone and maybe I can give you some awnsers. And believe me, it's a long story..."

Gaslija was strutting around, searching frantically through the many shelves, cupboards and wells, and thinking about how hard it was to find a cooper emblem piece when you need to. He finally picked up the small jagged piece from under a log, and cried in triumph. He grabbed his communicator and tapped a number in furiously.

"Hello? This is Gasilja asking for...yes, that's him. He's not there? Get him! I need him to translate the message on the back of the piece, you-betcha. Soon, the powers of the thieves shall be mine. All MINE, YOU-BETCHA!"

There was a sudden knock at the door. Gasilja looked through a periscope to the outside, to see a bunch of guards yelling the password. Those fools! Gasilja though to himself, as he clambered up the stairs on his huge chunky hooves.

Murray rubbed the back of his head as the guru was busy setting up Ice creams. The area was silent, and only afew ravens in the sky caught Murrays attention. He hated the idea of walking right up to the door of a huge sweedish viking. He fiddled with his thumbs for the twentieth time.

"Master, I don't know about you, but I feel kinda silly in this outfit, I mean...It doesn't even fit."

The Guru made an incomprehensible sentence. Murray nodded.

"I suppose so master, but you gotta admit..." And so saying, Murray lept into the front of the cleverly disguised van, he drove the two towards the enourmous lumber mill, with van playing the tune "pop goes the weasal" all the way.

Murray quickly got out and knocked onto the huge wooden door. and a small flap was opened on the other side. A small apir of piggy eyes peered out expectantly, and narrowed as they came to rest at the pink hippo.

"Greetings fellow norweigian, we're Happy fun ice-cream and co., here to serve ice-cream st your big show today..."

The eyes shut, and so did the flap, and with a creak the door burst open to reveal a very small creature standing on several phone books. In an instant the guru had lept upon him, but the size of the guard made it look more like a piggyback ride. Needless to say, smashing into the phonebook and lodging it into the drawbridge mechanism. Murray picked up the guard, put him inside the ice-cream freezer, and the two gang members headed off into the mill. As they hurried through the mill, Murray realised that there hadn't been any signs advertising Gasiljas show tournemant...rounding a corner, he gasped as he noticed the mass amount of guards inside the theatre setting up a giant cage. Murray held out a hand to stop the scampering Guru, who upon seeing the mass realised what was going on. Murray pulled up his gloves.

"Master, go find Bently. Slys most likely already improvised, and I'll take care of these guys. See you at the bridge, peace and harmony need to go out the window. It's best you don't see this. I'm gonna have some fun."

Gasilja was laughing as he escaped on his long boat, his crew pulling as hard as they could on the oars. He had finally done it-He'd stolen the cooper emblem piece AND he'd kept his base in one piece. He shook his fist at the base.

"HA! Gasilja has trapped the cooper gang, you-betcha! Soon, there will be no-one to even dare question the thieving authority of Gasilja!" His laugh bellowed like thunder as he held up the piece. There was a cough from one of the oarsman, and Gasilja yelped in terror as the entire crew flung off thier disguises to reveal the entire Cooper gang. Gasilja was lost for words, and he simply stood there pointing a finger. Shelia Hellstorm was behind him, sword at his throat.

"The games up Gasilja. How a guy like you could possibly get away with that fake Cooper emblem piece, well, I don't really know."

Gasilja had a look of confusion on his face. What did the racoon mean by that? He watched in speechless awe as Sly pulled out another cooper piece. Confused, he squeezed his piece, only for it to crumble in his hands. His eyes widened and he suddenly jumped out of the boat. Bently gave a smile, and watched as Gasilja was suddenly caught by Dimitri from below. Sly nodded to Bently and jumped after them, swimming to the shore. As he neared the two and the shore, he could make out the indistinct figure of Carmelita awaiting the criminal. He came asore and mopped his brow.

"Ah, Crmelita, I was hoping we'd get to talk y'know after...woah!" He found himself leaping out of the way of the shock bullet as it whizzed towards him.

"What was that all about!"

Carmelita gave an angry snarl.

"You're a criminal now-this is my job. As of now you are not my husband until you turn yourself in. And don't say it sounds ridiculous, because it doesnt...not when you have actually committed a crime. I found Bastofs body when I went to check the palace, and I don't care how much you hte clockwerk. It's not right to kill. That, and I made a little desiscion."

Sly was petrified to the spot. How could he tell Carmelita what had happened if she was already against him? He knew she wouldn't listen to reason. He jumped back into the water and made a dash for the boat, pulling Dimitri with him. Dimitri squeaked and let go of Gasilja, and watched helplessly as he swam through the freezing water. Sly heave the both of them onto the deck and grabbed an oar.

"Everyone, we have to get out of here before the cops catch us!"

"But Sly! This goes against the plan..."

"Forget the plan! We have the peice, lets just get the hell out of here!" Bently shrugged, and the boat sailed into the distance. Shelia glanced back at the shore, and actually had a little flutter in her heart. She would finally be leaving the sordid little town to actually have some adventure. It would be nice to just go somewhere, and live out the dreams she had always thought about. And for once it might be nice to live outside of the law. She coughed loudly so that everyone was watching her, and pressed a small button. Behind them was a huge explosion, and they turned to see Gasiljas final mill burn to the ground. She smiled sweetly.

"Y'know, if i'm gonna be a thief, I might as well offer the other qualities I have..."

Gaslija clambered to the shore, his fur wet and cold. He gasped as a piece of his beloved theatre mill fleww past his face. He fell to his knees, and gave a great cry.

"Oh Loki, please help me and all of midgard. Show them how I have been wronged, and bring me revenge against the cooper clan!"

Suddenly, a huge submarine arrived, and Gasilja jumped in. He climbed down the hatch, and looked to see his rescuer.

"I assume you realise who's done this to my mill, ya?"

The figure turned to him.

"Yes, Cooper. I found out when I checked on the guards a while back. Not to worry, we have met before and, well...I have a score to settle with that impudent rodent." The figure finally revealed its face. A small, squat frog, who sported a snazzy new metallic hat. He growled at Gasilja, who actually shrunk back, sulking.

"Yes, soon it will not just be Gasilja who makes his mark on the face of evil, BUT RALEIGH WILL ALSO HAVE HIS SAY! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

_We'd done it, albeit a little accidental. I watched as Carmelita shook he fist over on the shoreline. I just had to believe it, my own wife hunting me like a common...well, you get the picture. Things were back to normal...and I actually believed we could cope with it. We had before. I had some time to myself to think it over, and didn't speak to the crew until later._

_The shock news from Bently was the reappearance of Raliegh, my old enemy. He must have been working with Gasilja long after he discovered that he was in possession of an area containing a piece of the emblem. What a high class thief would want it for is a mystery though._

_Shelia was really getting along well with Panda King, and held the admiration of the mills destruction all to herself. It was nice to see another new face on the team who wasn't a former enemy. Pretty soon, I knew we'd have to pull off the favour. Shelia even treated us to a nice visit of a viking play. Although I left halfway through, it was a great oppurtunity to bring Penelope closer to bently. I mean, who else could understand a viking opera? Things were looking just like the old days..._


	5. Haunting over hotel Maya

_Shelia Hellstorms favour coincidentally led us to the next place where a cooper emblem piece had been located...a ruin of Aztec temples in new Mexico, a tourist trap and home to a hotel preoccupied by great explorers. Apparently, Shelias crew of explorers had taken up a special tour where they would excavate the ruins, but instead got a nasty suprise in the form of Aztec ghosts. However, the cooper emblem piece apparently has the ability to repel ghosts, and it was believed to have been investigated by the tour guide, Reptil._

_Reptil apparently used to be a young tour guide who hated his posistion and wished for more. A readup of his family tree one day revealed himself as a great decendant of an ancient Aztec king, and his name became famous as the real live aztec. Instead of using it for his tours he'd set up while looking for work, he'd used it to worm his way into a lodge named 'the hotel mayan'. He soon found himself running the lodging house for different members of the aristocracy, who spread fame of his hotel. If Shelias was friends with him at the time, and if her instincts are right, He might be a useful source of information. I guess we could do a little heist...I need to add Aztec treasure to my families already growing wealth and gold._

_SLY AND THE GANG IN:_

_HAUNTING OF HOTEL MAYAN_

Penelope set Panda Kings hat up immeadiately. As she did so, she took a look into the lobby where a few of the cooper members had already set them selves up in thier disguises. Dimitri was the lounge lizard, in his red puffer jacket smoking, while Sly and the others were dressesd in really upper-class monacles,pith helmets or berets. She quickly ushered him in,closed the door, and everyone turned to her.

"Right, now only me and Shelia have ever been on one of these kind of aristocratic get-togethers. We might as well be all either english or french...french in Dimitris case. Please listen to everything Reptil says or does...it will either prove important or interesting. Bently?" she smiled at her companion, and he nodded.

"Correct. We must all get into character like I taught you. Murray, you can keep quiet for now...no offense but he might suspect somethings up. I must admit that this is going to be pretty fun!" Sly smiled. He hadn't really had a good conversation with Bently lately.

"I hear you, pal, didn't you do something like this at one of those murder mystery parties?"  
"yeah, and incidentally, I might decide to interrogate Reptil if anything goes wrong. Sly, I think this will be my favourite search ever! I've always wanted to be a private eye, mixing hydrochloric acid with bicarbonate in the crime lab to see who stole the femur of the great ankylon and how the..."

Sly sighed. "Pal, you lost me on the word hydro...hydronoric."

Bently burst out laughing and so did Sly, but they quickly hushed themselves as the shadow of Reptil entered the room. When he finally appeared, it was easy to see that he was no ordinary hotel owner. His family legacy had obviously had a great influence on him, as he wore a beautiful coloured feather head-dress, a purple tunic and gold bracelets round his ankles. His reptillian frill skin stood out on his head to add even more to his decorated head as he flapped them to cool himself. I f was obvious that if he was ever angry he would probably flash them even wider with rage. But he bore a very charming and proud expression, and his voice was slightly deep and firm.

"Evening, members of our world of rich-folk, I am Reptil, and I emplore you to understand my posistion here. I am your host, and you will be spending two nights here. In the days following we will see many sights, and perhaps even the ruins of my ancestor for your research. As you sleep, I warn you that Aztec ghosts have been seen lately, and one of our guests is already spooked. Thta is a word, yes? Anyway, if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask. I will be dining with you shortly." And with that the great man left. Bently watched him walk out of view and turned to the others.

"Someones already spooked, eh? Maybe I should get Sly to interrogate? Panda King, you're a noble, if you distract the rich guys outside, Sly can get afew shots of who we're dealing with. You may even be able to get good conversation from them, king!"

Panda king bowed, and headed out to the ballroom. Sly smiled, whipped off his disguise, and crwle to the ceiling, through a vent, and onto the party chandellier. He noticed King was talking to a large black toucan, who had a moustache, pithelmet, monacle and a very suave green tie and light brown shirt and hunting shorts.Sly took a shot. Bently looked it over on the binnocucom.

"Ah, that's Sir Raltio Watson, big-time aristocratic crime boss of the RALTIO, a high class gang. He's probably here on a proposistion. He's certainly impressed alot of guests here with Reptils hosting skills."

Suddenly, Sly gasped as he saw Gasilja walk in, Carrying Raleigh on his shoulder. Sly took a shot and Bently instantly picked it up.

"GADZOOKS! It looks like Gasilja and Raleigh are in on it too! They must've known about the cooper pieces because...It's just a theory but...The RALTIO must be after your cooper emblem! Listen in on Kings conversation with them." So Sly did.

Raliegh began to look long and hard at the Panda king. He narrowed his eyes and looked closer, then cleared his throat.

"Excuse me sir but..have we met? You look awfully familliar?" Panda King adopted a french accent, but thinking quickly changed it.

"uh...Well Gosh, er, no. So..."

Raltio began ushering in the Panda king. Gasilja was also looking a little closer, but both he and Raltio had had far too much to drink, with Raltio glass by glass and Gasilja barrel by barrel. Raltio hiccuped and gave a drunken laugh, then shushed himself and spoke in a quiet yet high pitched english tone.

"We've got a crime ring, y'know, and 'hiccup' a job to do. Did...did you know about the cooper emblem, what-what?"

"Uh, golly gosh no uh, partner?"

Raltio reclined in a nearby chair. He tipped up his empty cup, peered into it, and threw it away.

"I need it, because,...did you know I'm the richest man here...we need it because I'm going to get more money and..."

In a flash Raleigh had whacked Raltio with his tongue. He flicked it back and smiled apologetically.

"I would tell you what he's trying to say, but he does it better, and you can see he's far from that now..."

Gasilja took the oppurtunity to sit Raleigh down and put his arm around King, leading him away while Raleigh rubbed his smooth chin thoughtfully. Sly took in every word in his binoccucom record, and kept listning.

"Raltio, that mass of americanism might've known too much if you'd kept you're mouth open any longer. He looks familliar..." Raleigh jumped as Raltio sat up, alert and awake.

"Whu?...Sorry old boy, my alchohol never affects me for long...special immunity you know. I mest consume less next time...You never know what I'll spout next what? And if you could do an investigation on that poor spooked chap in room one two one, I feel she needs to be assured after her dreadful experiences."

With the room name in mind, Sly hopped off to visit the guest. The room was very easy to find, and Sly carefully opened the door to see a poor little squirrell in her twenties, looking incredibly jumpy. Sly went over to her, and the squirrell jumped.

"What are you doing here! This is my room!"

Sly flapped his hands up and down. "Calm down, my name's Sly, and I'm investigating what happened to you. I'm...a member of the hotel staff...the chimeny sweep." The Squirrell looked confused but nodded.

"Two nights ago I was down at the lodge. Suddenly this ghost came and followed me to my room, and wouldn't go away. The funny thing was how rigid he looked, but I'd seen him before. I'm all in a muddle...I saw him first after going down the temple. Reptil had assured me I must have been seeing things, but he investigated all the same. He then came running out as an army of ghosts attacked him. I only wish Reptil was still here to help me...he and me are friends. We go back a long way, and I know many people are jealous..." Suddenly, a huge ghost arrived manically laughing, took its head off and displayed it to the squirrell, who in an instant screamed and was whisked away. Sly stood there, unable to ove, thinking of the brief monstrosoty he had just witnessed. The footsteps came just as the scream died away, and Sly crept out of the room.

Reptil came to see the gang, all in a fluster. He came over to Sly and Bently and wept.

"My beautiful friend Rosa, a young squirrell, has been taken from me." Sly was confused. Reptil sniffed straightened up, and coughed. "My dear friend Rosa recently came to visit the lodge. I was very happy to see her again, and wanted to ask her to marry me. She has been whisked away before I could even say a word. I have decided to send my chamelon gurds round the temple for a look, but they may be there for some time."

Bently patted his back, and rolled over to his laptop, searching for awnsers. He came back quickly with a 'missing' poster, and rolled it up.

"Reptil, if we have any info you'll be the first to know. right Dimitri?"

Dimitri gave a puff of smoke in a nonchelant sort of way.

"Hey, it's cool, Dimitri is number one with the life saving and the Reptil helping. It's cool, bro." Dimitri now spoke in a deep,slow and very french voice. With that said Reptil nodded confusedly and left.

As morning broke, The guru welcomed the hot sun as it gleamed through the curtains. He turned to see murray and Bently packing thier gear, Sly eating breakfast while simultaniously trying several different monocles, and the others brushing thier teeth or thier hair. Guru began to chant, and his moonstone glowed. Reptil could be heard padding up and down outside, muttering while Bently had turned to thoughts of Raltio. I t was clear in everyones mind that Raltio had done it, but Sly looked uneasy as he saw Bently give a look to...but he had turned away. Dimitri was still in the mini lobby chatting up ladies on his couch, the posistion of sitting which he had not moved. The entire gang was soon ready, and they all sat in tentative waiting for Reptils announcement.

"Today, my friends, we explore the temples not only to tour, but to discover. Follow me, everybody, to an adventure that will excite your eyes!"

And Reptil was right. The tour was a treat, with so much to see. Reptil had shown them a huge Panda shaped temple. As the left, the Panda king turned to it and bowed low, and the Guru stifled a smile. Reptil had stopped in front of a huge temple, with it's decorations glistning, and Penelope took pictures.

"This is a huge sacraficial temple, one used to cut out the hearts of the aztec people. The legend goes that the great god Nanahuatzin became the sun, and he claimed thta he would only ever pass over the sky for night if other aztecs sacraficed themselves as he had. It was abolished when Cortez the great Spaniel came and converted them. The temple is large enough to hold many secret twists and turns...archeologists are still searching for each one! I must now advise you to be careful as my guards have set up traps against those who try to tresspass. Now, as you can see..."

Sly turned to see Bently taking everything in, and was happy to see that his mind was relaxing now. Suddenly Reptil started, as a noise came from the bushes, although Sly noticed that this was only a couple of birds. After a few more minutes Reptil bid them a good evening, and Bently suddenly began frantically pointing. Behind them was Carmelita, wandering in disguise with her new constable Gwen. Sly nodded and led the gang to a small safehouse Bently had set up in the course of the night. It was only big enough for Sly and Bently, and they entered and sat facing each other.

"Sly, this ghost could be anyone. There are so many suspects now that i'd need more evidence. Poor Reptil must be very depressed at the situation. I suggest that we get the gang to check out the temple against those chameleon guards...you overheard yourself as to who really controls the guards round here." Sly agreed. Raltio had certainly shown traits proving his kidnapping antics.

The entire gang found themselves outside of the Fwelte mines, and Sly took a look in. Panda king had already set up the explosives to clean out the entrance. Bently motioned for sly to talk with him.

"Sly, as we go through the next couple of days, I'll be getting people to set up several activities in case my theories are right. It's too early to say now, but I'll be doing a few interviews."

"Right, while you're getting info, we're..."

Panda king recoiled with a yell, and everyone turned. Not only had the cavern entrance lock been destroyed (along with several guards) but the huge, ghostly apparition stood before them. It was the same sly had seen before, and it leered evily as it played with its head. About ten guards were alerted to its presence, and all of them were soon over the ghost, who flung them off as if they were fisbees. The ghost then laughed and flew into the mine. Before the gang could even think, there was a sudden screeching of breaks as Murray, who no-one had noticed missing yet, rolled up in the team van.

"Hop in Sly! We've got to do some ghostbustin!"

Bently and everyone except Panda king hopped in. The van burst into life, and the wheels could be heard spinning long after they'd dissappeared. Panda King began to set up his ammunition stand, and once again his yang self peered at him through a mirror on his launcher. It made a sneering face, and laughed a long hollow laugh.

"Ha! Raleigh recognised you didn't he? He wouldn't even look at you let alone talk if he knew what you were doing now. You should be more like him...at least he respected you!" Panda King once again ignored the reflection, but began to think back to his first meeting with Raleigh. A simple meeting, with all the info on the cooper household in front of him. It wasn't like they had become firm friends...

The gang hopped out of the van (as easily as they had hopped in) and began to search around. Penelope pointed to the cieling to reveal a huge decorative statue. The ghost appeared above it, and yelled down in an odd language. Murray lost his temper, and lost his newly found vocal approach.

"Thats it! I've had it up to here with chasing!" He suddenly threw a huge barrel from nearby at the creature. To everyones amazement, the ghost fell to the ground, and began buzzing and making robotic noises. Bently made a further inspection.

"Well, this sheds some new light on the subject. Sly, we better remember this place for later...I may need you to do some wiring..."

That evening, Dimitri had still not moved from his couch and although he was putting on a geourgeous smile, he smelt of smoke and only drove the ladies away. That and the cramp in his back from his sitting at the sofa or the bar. Sly was listning in as the Panda King and Bently interrogated Reptil.

"...You must admit that it was very disturbing for you, right?" Bently looked up before the awnser at Panda King, who had begun to pick up afew documents and paperweights.

"It was. Rosa isn't the first, several have been abducted, as Shelia will probably tell you. I'm just so angry that it would happen here, and I will do anything my money can do to bring her back."

" Well sir, I actually have a suspicion that Shelia could be the kidnapper...She arrives before a kidnapping, joins the team, possibly a way from keeping us to think it was her. And then there's you..."

Reptil stood up angrily. As predicted, his frills quivered with anger.

"Now if you're suggesting that I would kidnap my own fiancee, then you have definitely got your facts wrong. Good day, gentlemen."

The Ballroom dinner and dance had gone even better. Penelope danced witha couple of men to see if any had info on the disappearances. Many had claimed to have seen the ghosts themselves, all giving several different descriptions. Eventually one of them gave a good enough description, and Penelope gathered the gang together.

"Okay, We need to go on a little safari tommorrow, because those guards...they're not guards. There's a river down south being dried up and it looks like there's a vapour machine downstairs. A few are located in the mines, and maybe we should actually check the main temple. I'm guessing that if you throw in a couple of crud costumes and poof...instant ghost look-a-like. And we're also going to have to spy on a recent guest who's a friend of Reptils...A man named Cornel Yusef. Can you guys remember all that?" The gang members nodded in turn. The doors to the ballroom then opened, revealing the cornel himself, a strong, albeit posh rhino with his chin in the air. Bently decided to head over to him.

"Greetings, Cornel, I am Bently of the Hellstorm party, and I'm very happy to make your aquaintance."

"The pleasure is all mine, my dear chap." His voice was low and he emmunicated every word he spoke. Bently was now very suspicious of the little red strip in his pocket. The material matched that of her dress from the photos. He began to ask questions.

"Have you been here long?"

"Since last week, I've been stuck indoors, dammit, and I'm jolly bored as you can see." Bently knew the mud on his shoes told both a diffent story and the leaf in his hat, hidden at the rims back.

"Well, I have to be going now...enjoy."

"You too and...and talk to too many people about the ghosts like you did to me...Yo may get someone spooked! Visit me whenever, I've got no schedule."

Bently returned to the gang, and readied himself. Suddenly, the Guru scuttled off sniffing like a tracker dog, and Bently stopped murray from following.

"Don't worry ,I'm sure he'll be fine. The Guru can easily take care of himself." Murray suddenly tapped the shoulder of Bently very gently, and began to whisper.

" I found a guest who stayed here two days ago. Apparently in this very room the lights cut out, and the entire Ballroom was filled with cold air. Creepy huh? As it was, a huge apparition appeared and laughed manically. This one was not robotic, according to the guest. The ghost then began to give chase to loads of people around the room, and one brave tourist took a shot. The ghost then floated above the room and diasappeared. Totally Awsome." Bently ignored this, but Panda king laughed and took in every word. Bently sighed and waited for the guru to return.

But the Guru didn't come back. After three hours they began to consider searching. But Reptil and Cornel Yusef had already begun thier walk about of the hotel, and the guards protecting them from supposed ghosts were en-route. Bently grabbed Sly and pulled him into a room containing several maps. He then pulled out some blueprints and laid them on the table.

"So what's up, Bently?"

"Sly, I've just discovered the Emblem piece, and i'm gonna help retrieve it for this small task. First I need you and Murray to open all the entrances and destroy the obstacles through the security around the big temple. Then head Inside and find it while Murray fends off the guards who are bound to come down on him. Finally at dinner we'll grill Cornel Yuesef."

"Why? He's not done anything?" Sly remarked. Bently was firm.

"I know, but he needs to be tailed. He may just help us to help him. Now we better get to work tommorrow afternoon. Get some rest now."

Slys brain was spinning...It wasn't right that they had wasted time at the hotel. They could have easily solved it by now. He then saw Shelia, and decided it was time for a few questions...

The gang kept to themselves the next day. They ignored each other at breakfast, and were all anxious to hear Bentlys revelation as to the identity of Rosas kidnapper. Shelia looked around suspiciously, But bently brought everyone together.

"As you know, I believe I have a lead as to the kidnappers identity. Let me first say that I want to wait until dinner, I have some strong points to my incriminating evidence." Suddenly Bently noticed a single solitary photo on the newsboard. One of the tourists had pinned it up to show the ghost. Bently looked carefully...

Murray finished lifting the entrance for Sly, and ushered him in. The minute he did, a huge siren went off. Sly turned back and cupped his hands to his mouth.

"YOU TAKE DOWN THE GUARDS, I'LL BE JUST THROUGH HERE IN SECONDS!"

As Sly dissappeared, Murray looked on as a small mass of chameleon guards came his way. He cracked his knuckles and smiled.

"Fear, me, pathetic chameleons, you're about to expeience the pain of FIST-IN-FACE!" The guards started yelling and ran on, only to be flicked away like flys each time. Murray wondered if it would ever stop, but even more kept coming. It was more than he could bear, but he kept on, and quickly tightened his gloves. All the while Sly was yet again dodging the obstacles. The cooper emblem piece could be seen just ahead, but he began to think about the case. Had Shelia really done it? Or Raleigh? Raltio? He grapped the piece just as he ebbed to the end, but stopped stock still as he heard chatter from the floor below. He saw that the floor was glass, and as he looked down he saw...He listened closer. Murray could then be heard yelling for Sly to come back, but Sly wanted to just listen a bit more...and an angry expression appeared across his face. He destroyed the security controls and dashed outside to meet Murray, who was standing on top of a mountain of guards, his arms up in triumph. Sly then grabbed him, and they headed back to the lodge.

Bently watched as the chef cuckoo delivered his dinner, and he began to eat delicately with others. Dimitri was still smoking, but now smelled and his hair looked bedragled. Bently began to make conversation.

"Well, it's been a fine trip. It's a shame that after tonight we'll have to leave."

"Actually..." Shelia bit her lip. Bently raised an eyebrow, but went on.

"Cornel, how was your first day here?"

The cornel coughed deeply and adjusted his helmet. "Well, it was very interesting.Reptil showed me many, many sights, and I particuarly liked the big temple. Then he showed mr the quetzacoatal statue, the temple of coaticule and the pyramid conversion temple."

"Intersesting mr Yeusef, you've named three places we havent seen yet. I thought Reptil gave all the same tours?" Bently smiled as he saw Yusef gulp. Reptil caught on to the idea.

"So you did enjoy yesterdays tours, huh? Must have been a great pleasure to see the temple."

Yeusef was now dripping with sweat. "Well...uh...I..."

"Yesterday, surely he arrived three weeks ago? And I didn't think you ever went out. I must have been wrong." Bently hid a chortle as Yusef began to wave his arm. Panda King sat forward and wiped his monocle.

"It must have been interesting to see the ghosts on your visit, or am I mistaken."

Yusef settled. He began to give weak smile. "Well, I for one haven't seen any ghosts. It been quite an ordeal..."

"Really..." The panda king held up the photo from the newsboard. "This was taken the night the ghost appeared in the ballroom. According to my friend Murray this was two days ago and...well, I believe that there can't be two rhinocerouses with the same shaped horn running around, eh?" The picture did indeed show yusef in the background. Yusef stood and cried.

"Just say what you want to say! OUT WITH IT!"

Shelia was about to talk, when Bently stopped her."I believe you know a little about it miss hellstorm. Did you perhaps plan to steal the emblem pieces for yourself! You were quite happy to rat us out in Norway, and your mind for ghosts might have made you want to scare us away..."

Sly burst in. He was panting and held up the body of Rosa. Rosas lifeless hands were limp, and she looked so peaceful and still. Lightning flashed outside as Sly pointed menacingly.

"Rosas dead...And Reptil killed her!"

Reptil was aghast with speechlessness. The gang couldn't understand...Yusef was so clearly the villain. Sly also pressed the play back button on his binnocucom. The voices were Reptil on the other end, and Raltio on the firat where Sly had been.

"Well, how soon do you want the shipment watson?"

"Immeadiately, Reptil. As long as I protect your precious family legacy treasure from the

Locals, you can use the money to keep tracking those cooper emblem pieces. I'll expect you to deliver the first shipment of gases will help kill the food and cause a famine. Then once the rivers completely blocked, we shall have to force the locals to come to us for food"

"And then I shall rule the country as Reptil, the new Montezuma?"

"Yes, I do wish we'd focus on the plan but...a little harmless eco-destruction will work too."

Sly switched it off and glared at Reptil, who was currently held up by the Panda King.

"Reptil killed Rosa because she knew too much. He invited Yusef because he's the only one who KNEW we were the Cooper gang. Yusefs a scatterbrain, and Reptil eanted all of blame lifted to someone who would take the fall. He even planted evidence on him. Shelia wanted to leave when I spoke to her because she was scared. Reptil is a member of ther Raltio gang who will soon be wanted for illegal venture with his treasure." But Sly wasn't so sure this would stop Reptil who had now adopted an oily, evil smile.

"You are correct... but not quite! The ghosts are real, and I have learnt the arts of necromancy! My small villiage is ruled by me, but it is actual fact a secret city! From there I command guards to bring in people to sacrafice, to fuel my powerful ghost rituals. You will all be SACRAFICED, just as Rosa was!" A nautious green gas appeared, and the team fainted as Reptil remove his breathing device from his teeth. He invited the guards, and pointed to the crumpled bodies.

"Take them to the temples. Tonight we awaken Coatlicue herself. Then my word will be LAW! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Gwen finished the dance with her very, very short partner, and patted him on the head. The dance partner spoke in a strange language, and she couldn't understand a word. Heading back to Carmelita, she sat down.

"Any sign of Cooper?"

"None. I know he's somewhere here. But we've got bigger problems right now. Reptil has just been see leaving with a few bodies. I'm going to investigte further." Carmelita walked out, but stopped and looked back at her new partner. Gwen was looking around vaccantly until she fianlly noticed the urgency in Carmelitas face.

"Oh! Right." She walked, with the little dance partner secretly following.

Sly struggled to get free...no use. Reptil grinned evily as he held the Cooper piece in hand. This was it. This was going to be the true test of it. Sly was shocked however to see Murray not even struggling, but just staring at his feet and sighing. It wasn't fair...It wasn't going to end this way. The Raltio gang had to be beaten at thier own game. But only Murray could help, and he was too upset to do anything. Bently was struggling for dear life from his wheelchair, but it was no use. Reptil stepped out and looked down at his colliseum, which was filled with specators who had been forced there by the guards. He lughed evily and the entire Cooper gang was held out into the sun to witness the event. Shelia turned to Bently and gave an apologetic nod. Bently made an assuring one back, and strained his head back to the colliseum. Reptil pulled out a statue and set it in the centre.

"Now normally we sacrafice people to Coatlicue herself. But the power of recent sacrafices means that she herself will now perform the killing herself!" The crowd watched as the statue crumbled to reveal a strange and scary looking being, with the two snakes for her head now replaced by one, and her arms as snakes as well. She looked intently and monstorously at the cooper gang, as she became a writing monster ready to pounce on her victims. Reptil untied Shelia and threw her to the monster. He muttered something about 'false friends' and sat back in his throne of bones. Murray had suddenly taken note, and broke out of his bonds, and bounced in his ball form into the arena. The crowd cheered, and the monsters head jerked up, and its pupils shrank. It caught Murrays scent and roared loudly. Murray pointed a finger, and began speaking in his deep voice once more.

"Roar all you want, lady, because 'the Murray' and Shelia are here to make your day a living nightmare like the mare of night...and stuff, I guess." Murray recovered from this set back and punched the monster who seemed highly susceptable to the attack. Shelia watched as the guards came closer, but Sly had used the rays of the sun to activate Bentlys solar cutter. The bonds were cut, and Sly leaped out of the slab and landed a long sock right on the nose of a chameleon guard. Soon, the rest of the gang was free, and even the crowd had started attacking. Reptil watched in horror as his entire plan fell apart. Angry, he fled, and had just reached the entrance when...

"FREEZE!" he found himself buzzing after a short electrocution from the end of a shock pistol. He slumped, and Carmelita picked him up and cuffed him.

"Reptil, you are under arrest for murder, fraud and anything else we can pin on you."

Murray pounded away at the monster, avoiding the snakes that lashed out at him. The heads all hissed wnd even laughed as they delighted in the suffering of this young mortal. He looked around frantcally, as the Guru would've easily...The roaring stopped, and Murray looked up to see the Guru on the head of the monster. He began to chant, and as he did the monster screamed and became a statue once more. Sly mopped his brow.

"Fantastic Guru, now we've got to get to the van, quickly!" As they did, Carmelita and Gwen appeared over the top of the arena. The spectators ran, separating the gang from Murray. Sly tried to go back, but the crush of people was just too much. Sly quicky grbbed Murrays hand when he was close enough and gave him his binnoccucom, before being carried off. Murray ran through the crowd and hid, waiting for the two police to leave...and fell into the stream nearby.

Later as Sly and the gang followed the stream down, Murray rolled up beside them. His face was grinning immensely, and was soaked from head to toe...

_Reptil got his comeuppance in the form of Carmelita. From the clearing, we began to cheer as he got into the helicopter, but we kinda realised it was too good to be true as Gwen and Carmelita were forced to parachute out. I tlooks like we havent seen the last of the RALTIO. Things were just getting worse, and I knew they would be after the next emblem piece. Luckily they weren't heading in our vans direction. We finally got a chance to see what was inside the temple...perhaps the biggest stash of Aztec treasure we'd ever seen. A short hiest later, and we were outta there._

_Apologizing to Shelia wasn't easy, but eventually we made up for it by getting to visit the other parts of Mexico. Bently came back with a pinata, and we got ready for our next job._


	6. Cursed

_The next emblem piece surfaced in Greece, right in the heart of Athens. We set off and discovered the area. It looked like an easy job until we discovered the realm of a miss Ronnie Raven would make things a little more difficult..._

_Miss 'Ronnie' Had once been a successful young student of archeology. Things did well until the tutors realised that her obsession with Greek gods had led her to perform observational experiments on students to see if Curses were real, and she may have scared a few to pieces in the process. Angry at her conduct she was expelled, and began to continue her work in Greece. She even earned herself money by convincing others that they had no need for it, and her powers of persuasion were obviously not due to her own personality. Something had to be done..._

_SLY AND THE GANG IN_

_CURSED_

Ronnie slammed her fist down onto the table. She had ruffled her feathers and was not happy. The snake sitting opposite her wiped its nose with its tail, and thenused it to check through the files.

"According to this, miss Veronica, we have several reports of your unothadox ways of obtaining land. The mercenaries you hired will not do...You're becoming a criminal for heavens sake!"

Veronica suddenly kept her cool, and pushed back her jet black feathers, and brushed down her red dress. She then clicked her fingers and several guards ran over and hoisted the sanke out of the table. She made her way towards him, lit a ciggarette and pushed it into his mouth.

"Now, I was told that this was safe place, no? You accept criminals, and I am. now you give me land plot." She smiled, and the snake angrily hissed as he was set down, and checked over the files once more.

"Okay, Okay...there's a ghost town thats near the sea and a forest railway. There's an ampitheatre you can use there. Now are you happy?" He waited for her awnser. She thought about it, then nodded in approvement.

"Okay. My people move in at the end of the day. We own everything, and I get loan on any books I see here?" She smiled, but the snake looked confused. Why would she need one? He nodded, and vaguely pointed to the shelf. It suddenly came to his notice that she knew exactly what she was looking for, as she lept over to the shelf and picked out a book with a scary looking face on the front. She opened a page and began to chant, and before he could stop her the snake began to puff up his cheeks, bellow and whizz round the room. Two of the guards, one an octopus, the other an armadillo, were knocked out as the snake merged with them. He grew and grew until he had rippling muscles ending in fists with tentacles wrapped round them, a small snake head and a huge shelled back. His feet were tiny, and his tail had also become a mass of tentacles. Ronnie laughed a long hollow laugh, and watched as her new creation lost all powers of thought or speech, and roared loudly. She closed the book, and added a chain to it's neck.

"Come, Pedro...let's go for walk."

Shelia scouted round. There'd been no activity around the piece. She logged off and turned to Bently.

"This palce is perfect...there's no-one here! It's practically a ghost town!" Shelia was happy, but Penelope clicked her tounge, took off her glove, licked her finger and lifted it to the wind. But Bently wouldn't listen, and put his map back in his wheelchair.

"Great work Shelia. If this really is the case, we'll have that cooper emblem piece in a few minutes."

"Actually..." Sly looked up at Murray, who was looking at the emblem pieces they had. "Maybe we should, like, find out what the pieces do first. I mean, why don't we set up, like...a training room?"

Sly was now intrigued. This was actually not a bad idea.

"Thanks Murray, I think you've just had the best idea. Think about it...what If we need to get through an even tighter spot than before? We can't just sit back and run out of ideas."

Panda King made a grunting noise, and tapped Sly on the shoulder. He made a grunting noise, and led him to the side.

"Sly, This timeof quiet before a storm prompts me to warn you...I...I have been facing my inner self. I see him when I pass mirrors or...I...I am worried." King looked up with a sad expression on his face and he sat down, with Slys hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, big guy, I know you still try to think about what would happen if you weren't on our side, but that's all over now. You are our friend now...and nothing can change that. Dimitri probably feels the same, and I personally despise him. The guy hasn't washed in like a week. Did you see how long he was on that couch back at the hotel?" Sly was pleasantly suprised as the Panda King laughed for the first time. Sly laughed too, and kept laughing until a small piece of thin paper protruded from the Kings pocket. Sly picked it up. Suddenly his whole mood changed, and he stared at it for some time. It was a picture of Panda and his daughter with thier backs to the camera, watching the sunset. He looked back at Panda King, and gave a look that he understood immeadiately.

"My wife...she was also called Jing. She died long ago during my time with the fiendish five. I am disheartened by her death...but it was by my own hand cooper. As she visited villiage of kyato, I...blew up the mountains and caused an avalanche. I thenaccepted Clockwerks terms and...and..." But he was lost for words, and instead closed his eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks. He opened them to see Sly hand him the picture, and bring his face closer.

"Panda King, you have already shown just then that you have more heart than any-one else I know. And if your hearts in the right place, then you'll know exactly what to do."

King nodded, and watched as Sly joined the others. He wept silently, and began to hum a lullaby. Murray was also sitting apart from the others and had caught the conversation and began to cry himself, as he dreamed of a true home for himself, with parents who cared for him. Murray saw the Guru notice him, and the old koala cam and touched Murrays chest where his heart should be. Murray nodded and took his hand. This truly was the best itme for everyone to reflect. This was certainly going through Bentlys mind as he looked on. He turned to see Penelopes hand in his, staring onward. Dimitri, jealous of the intense emotions being displayed here grabbed Shelias hand, only to be karate chopped. Sly came up with the idea to have a bonfire, and a few minutes later the gang were soon exchanging jokes and stories long into the evening. Then they all headed towards thier hidden quaters, and rested. But they would not be the only ones there. Ronnie Raven appeared over the hill, and looked at ther new pet 'Pedro'. Pedro sniffed the air, turned to her, and nodded in agreement. This was definitely the right place.

"Sly! Wake up!" Sly found himself being violently jostled by Bently, and he stretched and yawned.

"What's up Bently? Did yo sleep okay..." He stopped as through the entrance window was the most terrible sight. Guards patrolled the area, followed by army trucks, food stalls and a carnival. A young Bird like woman began to motion them all in, and pointed to the various parts of the villiage. Suddenly, ordinary people walked in through a que, and they were all ready to see the supposed carnival. Sly couldn't get his head round it. Why had the one place they needed to be been taken over as though it was a heavily endangered site? Sly suddenly understood...the raven must be miss Veronica Raven herself, finally showing her face. She obviously knew nothing about the cooper gang, which would make the job easier. Behind her walked a huge person in a trenchcoat, ushering people in. However, when a farm truck got impatient and came out to complain, the huge guy grabbed the truck and tipped it over. It was a scary sight, and wierd too. Sly saw the clowns and wondered what was really underneath all the make-up. He turned to Bently.

"Uh...now what do we do? There are guards AND innocent people everywhere..." Bently nodded. He grabbed out a sheet of paper and began to write on it.

"Sly, I suppose all of the nearby houses here will become either guard territory or Carnival set up. So, we're going to have to join the Carnival...it's not like we really have a choice. You grab some costumes for the following days so we can find out what miss Ronnie plans to do, and I'll get the gang to do thier jobs too." Bently peered outside once more. "It is pretty against us out there... but I have reason to believe Ronnie is using magic," He pointed to the enourmous trenchcoat figure, " because things like that don't just come out of nowhere now, do they? I'll confront her, and we'll all grab the emblem piece at the end."

Sly folded his arms. "Nice work Bently...considering how you've missed out just about everything in between."

Murray put up his hand. "Guys, why don't we just do a proper hiest? We haven't really done a proper one in like, ages!" Murray was getting really excited by the thought of turning the tables on a villain just when they'd thought they got away wit it. This had definitely been the case for several of thier adventures, most notably the Black Baron and Rajan. Bently nodded in approval. He felt that he had certainly been doing a lot of agreeing these past months.

Sly clambered up the streetlamp and headed onto the roof. I t was fantastic to really be doing some sneaky thief work again. He lept and pressed his O button (Even after all these years Sly was still uncertain as to how he did this) and headed into next doors building. Clambering down a bookshelf he saw that the carnival clowns were removing thier hats, make-up, ans pantaloons. Wht was revealed however, were not disguised guards...but disguised creatures, all with red eyes, vicious teeth and wings. Sly, being well read on all mythology thanks to his ancestor Slaigh Mcoopers entry in the thievius racoonus, knew exactly what they were supposed to be...furies, albeit odd variations. So, miss Ronnie must be creating her own curse-like beings. Sly was terrified..there was no way he could pass off as one. But maybe...the were kinda like dimitris height when they were in disguise...Sly hid under a few dress tables, picked up a costume, and headed out. He knew he'd have to be far more careful when facing those kind of odds. He took a look round with his binoccucom, and took a big step forward. He lost his footing, and fell off of the bulding, right in front of a guards flashlight. He picked himself up and ran for his life, all the way through the cobbled streets until...phew. He hid behind a corner as several guards passed by. He cursed himself...stupid, stupid, stupid! It was rash actions like back at the rooftop that got him into this kind of trouble. Suddennly his binnoccucom had blinked into life. He picked it up.

"Hey bently, things are going well on this front...well, I might be slightly exaggerating but..."

"Never mind Sly," yawned Bently. Sly realised that the gang had hardly gotten any sleep. "Now, I've located Ronnies base, and I need you to visit it. Take a few reconnicance photos of her project. Pretty soon we can take staeps to reveal her true objective to the world. I've done several tests in my head to see exactly what she could be up to...well, seeing as i'm right nintey four point five times right out of a hundred, you're not going to like this one. just get a buch more costumes from the dressing room down the road. And Sly?"

Sly turned just as Bently made the remark. The moon had just picked itself up into the middle of the sky. It glinted off of the buildings, and Sly realised just how beautiful they looked. "Yeah pal?"

"Please check out Murrays posistion. He's got the van right outside the next dressing room. Good luck. Please remember to throw the costumes to Murray, okay?"

Sly made an agreeing noise, and leaped onto a rope hanging from his posistion. He made his way to the dressing room, each time getting used to his surroundings. A house there, a carnie truck there, and a few guard patrol areas. He darted to the ground and quickly pickpocketed one, then darted through the door. Wait, he thought to himself. Did he just dart through the DOOR???! Realising he was being watched, he was suprised to look up to see a security camera searching round, luckily not looking in his direction. Sly picked up his communicator.

"Okay, Bently, no way am I gonna get through this yet. Do you think you can destroy the cameras?"

Bently aknowleged this, and began to tap into the frequency.

"Listen Sly, Ronnies Frequency waves are harder to acess than I thought! She's added a Virus type that acts like a cell virus...It can easily hijack my hacking bug, inject it's DNA into it and divide in seconds, destorying my hacker from the inside as it does so. I'm going to need something representing a super hard protien coat if I'm going to get through this one, and I'll also need a new constabulary-standard force power in order to..."

Sly sighed. "...or, you could always ask Penelope."

"Or that." there was a noise as Bently quickly handed over to Penelope, who tapped in even faster. She then began to download several different readings.

"Well, Bentlys absolutely right, so I've added several attributes that would definitely solve the problem. Not sure how long this is going to take...And Bently, looks like your no-magic theory is a dud. Ronnies even using it in the system."

"That could be anything Penelope."

"But you've come up against magic so many times before, you must believe..."

"Ahem!" The voice of Shelia came blaring down the intercom in the one cough. "I believe you two should be destroying those cameras for Sly?"

Sly gave a smirk. He listened as the cameras suddenly made whirring noises, spluttered, and spun out of control as they burst off of the walls. Sly crawled under the following lasers, which had destroyed the cameras as they fell, and lept out at the other side of the room. Right in the centre was a whole range of costumes, which Sly gladly picked up, and destroyed the laser control right at the end. Getting out suddenly proved difficult, as a huge gate closed in front of the door. Using the roof, Sly realised that Murray was right on que, and he threw down the costumes, one by one to the hippo. Murray grabbed them, and threw them into the van. He finally gave Sly a thumbs up, and drove off. Sly finally used the binnoccucom to scout out Ronnies place. From the looks of things, she must have been up in the enourmous ampitheatre, due to the mass amount of guards outside. He was about to enter when something else caught his attention...as one of the guards gave a yawn, the flash of a police badge appeared inside of his jacket. So, Interpol was in on the case too. Not so reassuring... he saw Carmelita in a clown costume along with her clumsy dingo partner Gwen. So, they were all over the place already! He darted as quick as he could towards the roof of the theatre, and attatched a com-link to his head, with a tiny microphone next his mouth.

"Look, I'm going to need you to give me step by step guide through, and I'll need to be able to let you know about any magic forces. Sounds silly, but I need to know if there's anything I can't see. Ronnies a smart person, she'll know what traps to lay and not to lay."

"Right Sly, let me know if you need any more help than that as we go." But even as Sly made his way into the roof, Bently thought about what plan to use. He imagined how fun it would be to spook Ronnie out, teach her a lesson for her attacks on the locals. He tapped back into Slys wavelength. "Sly, listen..what if we made Ronnie think that the gods had cursed her? She need never know for once that it was the Cooper gang who would've done it. Then, if she was scared enough, she might give herself up!"

Slys head also filled with thoughts of scaring Ronnie, but they weren't as relished. He began to think about how Bently had acted like this with his underhanded plans during the Dr M incident. "Bently, that's great and all, but don't you feel that's kind of...well...mean?" Sly heard bently give an 'oh, but...,' and Sly quickly jumped in. "But like I said, it's a great plan. Besides, think of the locals who were affected by her magic." Saying so, Sly lept into the vent exit, and looked out to...an empty room. Seeing his chance, Sly ran forward only to be bounced back into an invisible barrier. He rubbed his nose, and looked at where he had hit.

"Sorry Sly...turn left,right, forward, and you need to jump over the lasers covering the door. Quickly before they switch!" Sly did as he was told, dodging all of the obstacles right down to the bumps in the carpet. He made it down a corridoor, but suddenly found himself climbing up to a nearby chandelier. Just as well, for Ronnie herself walked into the room. She studied her surroudings, and her feathers twitched. She headed over to the bookshelf and clicked her beak when she found what she was looking for. What she pulled out was certainly not any ordinary spellbook. It was a huge, tome slab of a book, which she brought over to the desk and laid down. She heaved open the cover, and began to search through the pages in mere seconds, getting more and more frantic as she went. She suddenly made a triumphant noise as she found what she was looking for, and used her fingers so that she could hang onto every word. She then made a thoughtful face, and looked around for a subject. Sly was already in the act of taking photos of both her and the book. He also took a photo of an enourmous machine behind the window. He jumped as the phone gave a long, shrill ring. She quickly sat at the desk, grabbed a pen and some paper, and picked up the phone.

"Hello, this miss Veronica Raven calling, how may I help?...I'm sorry, could please repeat...RALTIO? Piece of emblem?...how much? fifteen thousand? No can do, sir. I already have plan here, I f I find a piece driftwood then It becomes mine. Good day."

Sly mopped his brow, thankful she hadn't taken up the offer. But now she knew that there was something of interest in the area, and he would have to find it before she did. Taking one last photo of the door, he quickly moved, but a noise from below stopped in. Looking down, he saw in horror that she was already finishing a spell. With a splay of her hand the small glass of water began to collopse in on itself, turning inside out with the water sticking to the outside, and then she compressed it. While it seemed odd, Sly recorded it and put Bently onto the video. He then darted down the wall, and headed through the defences to the outside. Bently had become yelling down the intercom to him.

"Woah, calm down pal. Now, please tell me what's got you spooked."

"Sly! Ronnie wants to make people cursed. Think about it...Turn person inside out and flatten them. But there's a much more sinister plan afoot...If my calculations are correct, then she's planning to use the power to raise the tower on the ampitheatre, and use a spell to turn in something...anyhow, if she ever got lightning to strike, It must power that generator you took a photo of...but what the hell is it filled with? you better come back to the new safehouse I've set up, and we'll discuss this further."

Bently thought about all the different possibilities for Ronnies magic. He had to face the fact that magic was really the victor here. He could easily get the Guru to repel a few things, but that wouldn't really head up against the odds. Shelia didn't really know any Norse magic, and Murray obviously only knew what Guru could teach him. He quickly got everybodies attention.

"Clearly we are dealing with a mastermind, not only of magic, but of her opponents as well. However, If she doesn't know who her opponents are or has no idea that they even exist, she'll easily put it down to superstition and we can drive her out. First, we need to get the local guards spooked. Sly, you need to steal a few keys from the guards, so that we'll be able to enter any room. Murray and the panda king will blow up the Carnival tower when it is first opened to act as an omen. Penelope and Shelia will send shelias blimp to work with rain, while dimitri looks for a way to contct our old friend Crusher. I have a very special agenda to take care of involving a first class juggling act. Now go and drive those guys crazy!"

Sly lept through the air and onto the ground. There was only one key left, and the guard was so close that it almost wasn't worth it. but just as he turned the corner, the guard was confronted by a disguised Fury. Sly darted into the shadow of a building corner. But he was far from safe. His smell had already contaminated the Furies noses, and he watched as the seemingly normal clowns eyes pupils shrank, and it suddenly began to sniff the air. But Sly, just as the two enemies turned to search for him, grabbed the final key. He then crawled up the lamp to his left, and stood on the rooftop, clutching his chest and panting, it was still hard to believe how close that was. He now had the task of getting to every area and opening the door. But this was pure danger. He musn't let anybody se him, or Racoon would be on the menu. He ran, but lost his footing completely. His foot smacked onto a padlocked lift below him, and Sly sat in pain as the lift juddered into life. He stood up, and out of pure curiosity, jumped in. The lift made more metallic rumblings, and he could only breathe assuredly as he was taken below the ground. He closed his eyes, the wieght of the danger lifted from his shoulders. He opened them as he felt himself stop stock still, and peered into the gloom. Before him was a small cylindrical clearing, with light breeching the ceiling above. The rest of the area had been plunged into darkness, and bats hung from the roof of the cave. This place was sure different to the bright sunny surface town above. As he advanced, he could see that a vast amount of tunnels trailed off from the main core, and behind him was a huge map of the very complex of tunnels. Sly checked it, smiled gleefully and picked up his communicator.

"Bently, I'm just gonna grab this map here...trust me, you won't believe what i've got here."

Sly put the communicator back into his leg satchel, and slunk off to the next lift hatch. It made it's same noises, and surfaced...and the smile swept off of Slys face. He stared as he found himself at a huge square, right in the middle of the carnival stage. It was lucky that there was no-one about, but that didn't matter. He knew already what was going on: The tunnels must all be a special way for Ronnies men to get to thier bases. He looked up at the town squares clock...in the middle was a small scratch, that only looked like a speck from so far away. Sly whipped out his binnoccucom and zoomed in on the clock face. His eyes widened...The next peice of the Cooper emblem! So, that's why it hadn't been traced yet. He began to think carefully. The pieces were just appearing in random spots all over the place. He just didn't get it, just who had torn it to pieces to begin with? Dr M? Clockwerk? Or someone else altogether? Sly knew what he had to do, but he instead decided to focus at the task at ahnd. He pressed the button, the lift lowered and he began to gather his thoughts to a plan...

Five hours later, and the crowd were in full swing. The crowd were completely oblivious of the many guards posistioned on the rooftops, and the Interpol officers in the crowd and staff. Carmelita was enjoying herself, while Gwen was sitting back looking over several pictures. Carmelita didn't get it...Gwen was an idiot. She seemed to spend all her work time partying and all her party time working. There was something going on. Gwen had originally come to her aid as a constable long before Cooper had ever been in the picture...

Gwen was a colledge student who had recieved incredibly low grades. But her records had indicated her as a top agent, and worth Carmelitas time as a hotshot partner in law enforcement. But Gwen was incredibly absent minded...actually, only for uninportant things. Sometimes important...It was all too frustrating. Gwen had been seen as a young naiive girl, but Carmelita knew that when it came to catching criminals, no-one could beat her. She watched as Gwen called a guard over and whispered in thier ear. The guard laughed, and Carmelita thought nothing of it. The one person who she couldn't get a rad on..And she wouldn't even think twice about it if it hadn't been for the whole Neyla incident. She finally pushed through the crowd and sat next to Gwen.

"Say Gwen, you're missing out on Carnival time. What's the problem?"

As if trying to remember, Gwens face changed from a serious furrowed brow to her high pitched laugh, and yes, Carmelita DID notice the hesitation. But when Gwen didn't give an awnser she didn't press the matter any further.

Meanwhile, Murray stood with the Panda King at the base of the Carnival tower. He looked at the King imapatiently.

"Can I smash it?" He flexed his muscles and lifted a fist, only for king to stop it before it could reach the stone. Murray sighed and lowered his hand, muttering as he did so. King bore a serious look upon his face, and was about to ready the detanator when he heard something. He sniffed, turned to see a curtain with a shadow of a large hunched figure inside. The curtain was attatched to a box, with wires leading into the tower. A voice could be heard muttering, and the curtain was pulled back by the figure inside. What followed was a huge neck and head, dressed in running gear and a number on its back. The figure then ran like lightning, despite it's proportions, from the booth to the intruders, and looked down upon them. Murray looked sideways to panda King, who did the same. Murray nodded.

"Boy, that's one fast Girraffe."

A figure dressed in a clowns suit appeared with a drama mask, and grabbed a microphone centre stage. He cleared his throat.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the hour of Carnival to the great gods of Olympus is close at hand. I hope you've enjoyed the many delicacies from our region and our exquisite music, but now we must all begin the count down to the Carnival. The gods will be given our appreciation, and soon we shall celebrate Carnival style! 10...9...8..." He looked at the crowd. thay were getting really worked up.

5...4...3...2...ONE! A huge heaving of metal could only be heard by those not cheering. Carmelitas ears pricked up with the very odd sound in the background. There was a huge explosion, followed by a terrible tremor. Then the Carnival tower fell. It came slowly, then faster as the crowd panicked. Screams of " the gods!" and "a sign!" were heard, and Ronnie stood at the back of it all, out of sight, trembling.

"Oh, Zeus, did you really NOT want this? This is no mortals doing! It is a sign! Oh athena, your beautiful Athens..." Sly could hear every word, and was chuckling to himself. Gods? Ronnie really was a fanatic, along with her guards. The people of Athens weren't shouting cries of help from thier gods. It was people like Ronnie who gave the steryotypical view. Carmelita, unaware of any of Ronnie and Slys involvement, was scowling. Curse her foot, more like. This was an inside job...

Dimitri stood with his hand testing the air, palm spread with a bored look on his face.

"Dude, you sure Crusher gonna come with rain signal? Cause Dimitri see no rain.."

"No, no," Bently shook his head vigorously, "The Guru has contacted Crusher through his underwater communications to come here. Ronnie doesn't believe in monsters as such, but she DOES believe in posiden. Now, if we guide Crusher here through my newly set rain clouds and Shelias blimp, he should make his way here. As for you Dimitri, you'll be doing me a favour by destroying the underwater trap fence for the fishing. Any poor creature, including Crusher, will be safe after that." Bently looked up at Dimitri, who gave a narrow look with his hands on his hips.

"Okay little turtle, I do this. But really bro, I don't help no freaky deaky animals...I wear them!"

"Uh...but you are one." Bently scratched his head and checked his map. Above him the girls were setting up the rain configuration. Shelia pressed a button and the whole thing blurred a little as it absorbed the sea air. It churned it's collected vapour, only ten times faster than a normal cloud, and It began to mist and grow heavy. Shelia was just about to sit down, when she felt her arm grabbed by Penelope.

"Listen, smart...ish girl! You may think Bently is giving you special treatment because your new, but he's not! He's doing it because he knows you'll mess up so...don't!" But Penelope soon found herself grabbed as Shelia pushed her away.

"Look, I know you feel that I'm stepping in on Bently and you, but I'm not! I'm not even that smart. Navigation is my passion, and I don't want to share it yet. Please, I don't want to be your enemy."

Penelope nodded, and watched as Shelia got back to the controls. Just as she did, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that an incredibly fast figure was making it's way to Bently. Before she could cry out to him, the figure was already there. But instead of attacking, it held up both the Panda King and Murray in its hands, and dropped them. Bently applauded.

"Such power! Such finess! Who are you?"

The Girraffe bowed low and rubbed his nose.

"I am Harold lawrence, and I am a friend of Big Jim Mcsweeny. The big guy might be caught, but he's been in contact with me since..."

"A friend of Mcsweeny? Obviously a pretty recent one. No need to explain, but you'll have to break the news to my friend Sly. I've got a job to do right now, and Murray, I'll need you too. Lets get to work."

The crowd had gathered in a smaller theatre near the ampi-theatre itself, and were awaiting the carnival acts. But there was still major talk of the recent destruction, and people were scared...they hadn't seen an incident this big for a long time to come. Bently looked out from backstage, and ushered Murray to look out too.

"Murray, soon we'll have to give them a show while the Clowns are still away. Now I need you to collect some of the greek pictures in Ronnies office. I know this is Slys kinda work, but he's a little held up at the moment. Make sure you put these electrical bugs in them. And finally, do the same to the rest of her house. It's totally empty, and hopefully Sly will pick up your rendevouz point. I've calculated that the angle of my ball throwing should be enough to juggle correctly, and uhh...yeah, pretty complicated."

Murray shook his head with his chin raised. "Fear not Bently, for I shall follow your wishes and bug those pictures as if they were infested by your own awsomeness...which they will. And don't worry, the murray know no defeat...only those at the end of his legs! Kinda funny huh?...huh?" Murray shrugged, gave a salute and dashed outside. Bently got onto the stage, and without an explanation began juggling. This alerted the furies to his posistion, as the crowd cheered and clapped. They snarled and bared thier teeth as they tried to pick up a scent, for thier true blindness prevented this. But Bently could only thank god that the several air freshners that hung from his wheelchair smelling of pine would turn them away.

Meanwhile murray searched the entire house. There were so many portraits and statues to bug that it seemed impossible to get them all. Sly, who had only just turned up, was begginning to feel the same, as he bugged statue after statue after statue. He didn't really think this would work, but it had to for thier sakes. He turned as Murray finally inserted the last one.

"Great work, Murray, now let's get outta here. This palce is giving me the creeps!"

"I know what you mean. But no ghost can stand before me. I would teach them a little lesson in 'payback', and then remove thier ectoplasmic hides! " Murray beat his chest and lept forward out of the window. Sly followed suit, just as Ronnie herself entered the room. She cocked her head to one side, as if to hear something, but turned back and place the book in the grand case to be taken to her hall. She rolled it down the hall, and as she did so a small electromagnet attatched itself to her back. The bugs in the statues heads were using this force to turn as she walked. Ronnie got the terrible feeling that she was being watched...

When he entered the safe house, Sly was suprised to see a Girraffe hand out it's hoof in a greeting gesture. The Girraffe wore a baggy running vest with "runner 88" taped to it, and shoerts with the typical white stripe. He stooped a little as he shook Slys hand, and sat promptly down.

"Mr Cooper, I am Harold Lawrence. Nothing to do with you so far, I suppose."

"No, not really." Sly was puzzled.

"I happen to be a friend of Mcsweeny..."

Sly eagerly sat down. "Do tell all..."

The girraffe cleared his throat. " I was a runner for Athens a few years ago. Thought I'd really hit the big time when I won three gold medals. But I'm not ordinary.Your father knew mine many years ago, and I travelled many times to see you. You can't obviously remember all that time ago, but I always knew about your family. So Big Jim taught me how to use the fast-forward Cooper moves, like the one of the same name. But these are Cooper moves, so I dropped them. Sly did you ever ask yourself why this is a ghost town? I used to live here, and tourism boomed when they learned what a great runner I was. But one day, I grew unsure of myself. So I used the Cooper move in a race, got accused of cheating and lost my fans. People left, I went out of money, and the town went out of business. Then people left, and I had to live on the move constantly. But when I came back yesterday, I couldn't believe what had happened. Your two friends had already completed my first reveng Idea, but your turtle friend explained it all to me. I'm your man, Sly." He sat back, happy on his part with a beaming face. Sly scratched his chin in thought.

"Okay, Harold, what do you know of the Cooper emblem?..."

But Bently had already sat everyone inside, and was getting them to quieten down.

"Finally, it's time for action with my new paln. I call it Operation Freak out, as named by our friend Dimitri. Everythings been set, and we just need to add the finishing touches. I will wait until Ronnie is alone in her Mansion, and spook her. Then, Murray will drop in, defeat as many furies as possible and grab the book without Ronnie seeing him. As she gets to her main hall where her posiden statue is right on the shore balcony...well, that's a suprise. From there, we can scare her, ditch the cops, grab the emblem and retreat. Well, It's not detailed, but It certainly will be worth it! now take your posistions in her house, and follow my lead..."

Ronnie signed her finsal contract. At long last, her magic book could be shipped to the area in ten days. Feeling pretty happy with herself, she closed her order and lit a few candles, praying all the while. She jerked as she saw her statue of hephaestus. Did it just move? No, It couldn't have. He rlights flickered, and the candles did too. Bothersome wind, she thought, as she closed the windows. They flew open into her face, and shut once more. The Room did seema little eerie...but nothing would deteer her. She would soon have mass control over the land, and then use the railway to ship her poisons to the highest...She looked at the statue of Zeus. She stopped. It was looking right back. Heart fluttering, she cautiously closed her book and picked up the phone. Dead. completely dead. And then the lights went dim, and the candles went out. The sun was still very low in the sky, giving a red glow into the room. She turned round and screamed. The statue was almost at ther desk. She walked up to it, and prodded it as a laugh. It recoiled sharply and growled in a low, slightly nasally voice.

"Veronica, witch!" She screamed once more, but looked behind her to see hepeastus bang his hammer on the stone anvil singing ina low, singsong drone of a horror song. She opened the doors and ran down the corridoor, but wherever she went, all portaraits or statues turned to her. Inone room, a rocking chair turned round to reveal a smiling Panda dressed in a chefs bloodstained uniform, beckoning to her as a huge pink hippo lay on the dining table. She didn't need to not believe in horror here...she was already too scared to care. Another room held a small frail turtle about to be beheaded by a hooded figure. It took off it's mask to reveal a smoking neck with no head, and two red eyes peered out of the smoke, and it gave an exciting, chilling and high laugh. It lunged for her, and she ran to every room to be faced by yet another horror. All the while things had begun following her, but she arived at a clown to be assured. But after tapping it on the shoulder, it snarled at her, became its fury form and pounced. She shrieked as the (Bugged, thanks to Murray) Furies chased her to the great hall. She barred the door, and gasped as the red sky outside on the water created a chilling atmosphere. She ran down the enourmous room to the huge statue of posiden, threw herself on her knees and cried,

"WILL YOU SHOW ME NO PITY LORD!" The statue rose and gave a laugh, wiping her of her wits. But the last strw came, for as she prayed one last time, posiden was ripped apart along with the entire building, and a huge sea squid that was not of this earth appeared before her. This was surely revenge from posiedon, and she lost it. Running out of the house and avoising the furies, Sly debugged them quickly and thay fell away. He laughed, and gave Bently a high five. Dimitri pulled his head through the headless outfit, and the others arrived. Bu the moo was broken by the sounds of police sirens. They looked outside and shared mixed feelings as Carmelita moved towards her.

"Please, no make me go back in!"

Carmelita looked confused as Veronica pleaded to her, and she had spied the Coopers through the window. But so had Ronnie. As an officer cuffed her, she seethed with anger. Her staff flew to her, and she lept onto the building. The cooper gang were already on a hill, witnissing it all.

"YOU MORTALS! You think just because I supersticious you can scare me? NO! I make you pay! I MAKE YOU ALL PAY! PEDRO!" The trench coat figure appeared beside her, and ripped off its disguise. She held the spell book high, for she had had it all along. Murray apologized to Bently for not retrieving it, but it was too late.

"Tonight, VERONICA GETS HER WAY! AQUA HISHTA MAZODAX NHA, AQUA HISHTA MAZODAX TYA,..." The spell book quivered before her, floating, and grew as the figure on the front began to emerge until...GULP!

For pedro had swallowed the spell. He grew to an amazing size, and stared at his hands.

"Every cell in my brain exploding...my form is hideous...the power...the power!" He cupped his chin and looked at Ronnie. "All these years of imprisonment, I am eaten by a powerful simpleton and gain his form, then enhance it two thousand fold to represent my own! To think that such a powerful djinn..."

"DJINN!" Ronnie was devestated. "All these years of searching for a way to meet Ares or Typhon, or even Atlas, and I free... A DJINN! All this time and I've been using an Arabic spell book! How? It must be a translated version...NO!" The Djinn picked her up and ate her in one bite.Sly had seen enough.

"C'mon, we've got to do something!"

"Sly, we can't! That's a Djinn, and it's statistically impossible to beat it unless...we return it to the book? Bu we don't have a mystic..?"

"But I read all languages!" All eyes turned to Shelia. "I had to navigate some tough places and learnt all languages, and my mother came from the south. My granpapa was a mystic, and knew the aisian arts..and according to your records Sly, Salim Al Kupar was one too!"

"Alright, I'll join you. We need a way up there without us being noticed, so follow my lead!"

Gwen put on an angry face and marched towards the Djinn, and found her arm held back by Carmelita.

"NO! Listen Gwen, I'm not letting my new rookie get killed on her second proper mission..." Gwen had already whipped out her badge, and Carmelita was stunned.

"It's time you knew the truth. I'm a member of the F.A.W, federation against world wide criminals. We're a small base undercover for the whole F.B.I agency, and I'm not letting this case be seen as anything more than an illusion. The Cooper gang will take care of this, I'm not stupid...But You're still my friend. I couldn't tell you anything before. Now you know, you'll have to keep on your toes. Forget rookies, you're with the bigtime now."

Carmelita stuttered uncontrollably..."M-M-me?

"Of course? Your records are pretty spotless aside from number of captures, so I could easily get you in. But now, keep your head low, and follow my lead!"

Sly grabbed the book from behind the Djinn as it floated deciding how to use it's powers. Shelia pulled on her hood against the great gusts of wind.

"You scared?" She called out as he sidled next to her.

"A little, but we'll have to try!"

The Djinn looked to see the two midgets, reading thier pathetic book. He would destroy them immeadiately. He reached over to make them pay...

"Over here, Felon!" The Djinn turned to see Murray held by Harold "What are you doing clown? Don't you know I'm your master? Meet thy Endgame!"

"The Murray knows no endgame, only the Checckmate that will bring us into a combat so cool it will be a STALEMATE! OH YEAH! BEAT THAT, SUKKA! ready Harold!" Upon this he was launched, and smacked into the Djinn. And before he could even topple onto the two spell casters, they were just finishing.

_Thy power is of meanful ends_

_but only thieves are worthy._

_But while they and I escape Set sends_

_an anciet quote O' truly,_

_For within the prison of the sun_

_And the book that has been due,_

_To keep thy body still and done _

_TO SEND THEE BACK ANEW!_

The Djinn fought for his freedom but it was too much, and he was pulled to the book. But as Sly reread the last line, A change came over the Djinn, as it's face became more understanding and noble. And then it was gone. The wind blew the clocktower and it suddenly jarred, then creaked as it struck twelve at midnight. Bently watched as the cooper piece dislodged and fell onto the ampitheatre, as the bells rang for the first time in ten years...

_I couldn't believe it...not only had Sly destroyed the Djinns evil scheme, but we had also brought life back to a ghost town. The police were baffled as the recently discovered F.A.W agent Gwen convinced everyone it was a show. We also Got a new gang member out of the bargain! We jumped into the van, and celebrated. It was pleasing just to have scared the evil Ronnie out of her mind. But her superstition had also proved her undoing. I lamented for the fact that we had not forseen it...it was most unfortunate. _

_But apparently, It wasn't to last. I was confused as to how our van was in the open anyhow. Murray gave a shriek, and we all peered through the windscreen to see poor Crusher netted up like a poor fish. Before we could act, A very confident RALTIO gang, having found our location, had attatched a powerful roket jet to our van, and we screamed as we were launched into the air, hurled miles away...and, boy, did we land far... _


	7. Turtle Soup

_It was a long while before I woke up, right in the middle of the Island of Boara Boara. Thankful to be reunited with the Van, I used the internet to confirm my suspicions. Murray burst through the jungle yelling that Sly, Penelope and the others had been captured, and that they required my super-intelligence to save them. Murray told me what little he knew of the situation..._

_Sly and the others were now guests of an evil Tiki king called Tiki-no-wanna, and the mysteries surrounding his origin were many. They say he just appeared to the natives one day as a sign from thier god, but he was inexperienced. What made matters even worse is that his old teacher was Mz Ruby, our old enemy. This was long before we had even met her...He soon found himself using his new powers to sink tankers, create unearthly graveyards in the furthest parts of the island and even steal passangers just so he could have thier socks._

_If my calculations are correct, the nervous Cheetah is holed up in the jungle, ready to cook Sly and the gang into tiki food. Poor Penelope...Unless I save them, i'll either have to get used to losing an entire team, or even worse...Learn how to play chess with MURRAY. Like there was even a choice..._

THe sky turned crystal blue as the dense, lush forests bounced the colours with thier emerald green. The villages small fire pit glowed red hot, and the smoke billowed out towards the sky. Across the way, a huge mask appeaered, with a huge painted leering grin with giant teeth, and its leapord arms potruded from it sides. Tiki no-wanna stolled out of the jungle to the village clearing, followed by his few sloth warriors with the entire Cooper gang trussed up and hog-tied onto sticks. Dimitris eyes darted to the sloth, who turned to him and gave a lick of his lips and rubbed his stomach with his free hand. Sly rolled his eyes and kept struggling. Shelia, not used to such hot conditions, was sweltering in her fur coat. They finnally untied the gang, put them in shackles, and laid them onto the ground in front of a huge throne with a red carpet. Tiki sat down on it, and leaned forward, hiding his excitement at having actually caught an intruder. Mind you, he thought, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to eat them. He adopted a deep, monosyllabic voice and whispered to one of his guards. Then he pointed to Sly.

"Him...he make bad meat. Panda...he make good meat!"

Bently lept out of the van in front of Murray, wearing everything he could that would protect him. His helmet was underneath his old protective hat, and he also wore all of the jungle gear. Murray couldn't contain himself with laughter. As he got up, he suddenly stopped as he saw that Bently looked so upset. He went over to him and put his finger under his chin, lifting the old turtles head up.

"Chin up, Bently. Things look bad an' all, and I know for a fact that you're a big safety first guy. But I've already screwed up protecting you before. I won't make that mistake again." He fastned his mask and turned sternly, but in a way that looked more like he was generally angry rather than at Bently. "Friends stick together...I said it before, now I'm sayin' it again. Don't let the numbers get you down. Murray will always be there." He heaved a sigh, put on a happy face, and watched as a secretly smiling Bently reloaded his gear. ten minutes later, and they were all ready to trek. Bently thought it was interesting at how many times they had to save Sly recently. It made up for more than enough times when it was the other way round. He wheeled himself into the thicket, and Murray gingerly followed.

An hour later and they had made it to a large cliff face where they observed the actions of the big Tiki man himself. Bently recorded everything that went on in his notebook, while Murray quivered with anticipation of being caught or not. He watched as the slow Sloths swung from tree to tree. He began to gnaw on his gloves and looked around nervously. Bently suddenly waved his hand as if to hush Murray, grabbed his binnoccucom, and shot the Sloth with a sleep dart. The Sloth instantly fell asleep and hung from the tree to give the slight impression that he was still keeping watch. Tiki went over to two guards and whispered to them. They went into a small hut, smashing open the door. A couple of seconds later and they had pulled out the rest of the cooper gang and had them kneeling in front of the throne. Tiki was bored at doing this every few minutes, and was glad that it was time to dispose of them.

"So, you are probably trying to think about why you could possibly be in trouble here. I am big chief, ready to create juice!"

"Juice?" Sly was confused.

"Tiki create big juice that make him stronger. Then when midnight come me take big guys to witness my power! Juice made from guys like...YOU!" He saw that Sly was still confused. He sighed. "Arrgh, the things I...look, I want to rule the world right? For now I've been doing petty little things, and now? There is an ancient legend that if I take a special potion at midnight tomorrow, I will become ruler of the many powers I shall soon hold!"

He uttered yet more strange mumblings as he gestured towards the cliff edge, laughing as he finished. Bently was interested, as mainly to the wellfare to the animals of the jungle... the gang were terrrified..what fate could possibly meet them at the end. Sly was first. He was prodded to walk over to the edge. He did so, and looked down. Big mistake. He now knew why it was so hot. The huge volcano below him was not particuarly violent, but it didn't need to be. The cone was almost filled to the brim with lava, and little trickles were dripping over the top and cooling incredibly fast. He gulped as he saw bones decorating the cliff edge at his feet, and wandered what strange creatures had been destroyed by the tikis to produce them. Tiki came close to him, and whispered into his ear.

"Are you prepared to die, Cooper?" He prodded, and Sly shut his eyes. As he did, a strange noise came from nearby. Both he and Tiki turned to see Murray swinging towards him, and before Tiki could blink, he suddenly felt very drowsy...Murray dropped Sly off at a tree, and looked to see if Bently was coping with freeing the others. MUrray hugged Sly, but suddenly felt himself being pulled back, taking Sly with him. Thier eyes moved to Murrays foot which was caught in the rope. The screamed as they hurtled like a catapult towards the ropes knot, which was unfortunately in the prickliest tree in the area. They flew once more, and the rope snapped and tossed them towards the clearing. Sly sat up from under Murrays arm. His face was bruised and he began to make inchomprehensible noises. From underneath both of them, a small purple hand emerged.

"Dude, I think my spleens in my leg now."

Bently had already got Dimitri, Panda king, Harold and Shelia to his side, but he watched as Tiki and his guards awoke. He dashed over to the others that were left, and hid in the bushes. They watched as Sly, Murray and the Guru were hauled off towards the jungle. Bently was distraught...

_It was awful...4 members were now captured, and I was left with the most inexperienced members of the Cooper gang. Worst still was that Tiki now knew that there were others to watch out for, and his new found power would mean that he would be even tougher to confront. We trudged back to the van, and Panda king , who had overheard everything from his hiding place, told us the situation... _

_Tiki was now awaiting nightfall, and had gone to the darkest part of the jungle. He was now inside a graveyard base, using magic both Tiki and Voodoo to protect himself. If my calculations are correct, there is only one person who will be able to beat him, and while they don't have to be a member of the team, they'll still be a handful. The only question that remains is how to free Mz Ruby herself... _

_BENTLY SAVES THE GANG (AGAIN) IN..._

_TURTLE SOUP... eek!_

Dimitri peered through the murky water. He wasn't too sure why it was green, until he saw several bones float past. Oh boy, he thought. This certainly wasn't the most glamourous mission he'd ever been on. He finally surfaced and gasped. In front of him was not just a fortress, but also several other medium sized buldings an constructs surrounding him, like a layout of a themepark, the decoration of a horror movie and each with different purposes. He tried to remeber how sly had moved, as he clumsily leaped onto a tiki statue and heaved himself onto a small building. He got out his poorly made binnoccucom, and whizzed it round his head. His earpeice buzzed frantically, and he bashed it with the flat of his hand, only to realise how stupid thia was once the feedback kicked in. He finally adjusted it, and kept at Bentlys wavelength.

"This is smokinfish778 reporting, bro. Y'know, I'd spam this if I could."

"I'm sure Dimitri, but I think we'd better focus on the task here. You need to take some photos of the different areas and of Tikis base. If we can find out exactly what's going on here, I can draw up a plan. This should be very intrieuging, and we might just be helping the Island."

Dimtri aknowleged and zoomed in on the furthest base up a mountain side, jutting out and surrounded by jungle. In fact almost the entire area was either caves or jungle, with the moon appearing through cracks in the leaves above. Dimitri was sure that it was only 6;00PM, providing the reason to the regions nickname as 'the plane of darkness.' He took the photo and Bently looked it over.

"Hmm...A small weapons factory, but guarded by skeletal poles and candles, with a huge gate...well, he really has become a Ruby wannabee. She used to own a monstrous abomination of unquestionable size...This could be the same pet."

Dimitri shivered..He hated slimy snakes. Well, he technically acted like one, but that wasn't the point. He clumsily felt for the roof as he looked through the binnoccucom, realizing how far from the edge he was. He sharply crouched back. He then zoomed in on a nearby swamp patch.

"That's probably where the potion is made...interesting. What if we..oh, a plans coming together..."

He then spotted a mansion and took a photo.

"Ghost mansion...a voodoo mansion. Where else would we get a safe house? We'll have to clear it I guess."

Dimitri took a photo of a huge and long area where Guards patrolled up and down, and water rushed out of huge pipes.

"Ahh, a huge water deposit. And I think that's a graveyard and moselium in the distance...Good work, now head to the fortress. There's so many ways in.."

Dimitri was incredibly nervous now. "Dude, there are too many ways for hot diggity Cooper to get in...not Dimitri Lesteau! I can't crawl through tiny low fat hot vent! I need a..."

"uhh, stepladder. For some reason there's a convienient stepladder to the upper door. There you go."

"Uhh...Dimitri out!" Dimitri hurriedly made his way to the step ladder, and climbed through the door. Inside was a huge wooden complex, with a small area in the middle. Inside of this was Tiki and one of his minions, and a small set of smartly dressed characters. He was just in the act of dictating to the small crocodile a series of updates to his journal. Dimitri took a shot of a huge electrical set up in the background. He then tapped a hearing bug to his thumb, and listened in.

"This is going to be hard work. Chief, I'm not sure if we can produce enough moskito juice in one week, or seagulls wings. this potion is way too big..."

"I don't care," snapped Tiki, his eyes blazing, "This is my operation and my era of darkness! With the Racoon at the altar and the mouse at the weapon factory, and that stupid Guru controlling my swamp creatures, production will be way up!"

"But don't you think it was a little harsh to put big hippo in treadwheel..."

"Doesn't matter! What matters is my darkness! Soon it will spread so far that the entire world will come to me for light! I shall promise them it and then...take it away!" He began laughing a deep, hollow laugh, which rose to a manic cacophany of noise. Dimitri suddenly felt a ripple in his throat, and then his nose. He gave a huge sneeze. Tiki instantly jerked to his minion and whispered "Ghuzundheit." Safe for the moment Dimitri crept out the back door, and promptly fell down the step ladder.

Bently really wasn't sure what to expect. He never had to deal with inexperienced thieves before...normally it was just him and the gang explaining it to everyone else. Now it was just him! First thing was first though...

"Now everyone, the high point of this is getting Carmelita on the track of coming here. If we could create a signal of some kind, we could always have her drop in. I've made contact with Mz Ruby herself through a special jail internet service of my own, and she has made requests that we destroy the gooey tar. To do this, we're gonna need Sly, Guru and Murray. Penelope cannot be freed yet for reasons I've yet to understand...Panda King, you and Shelia will blow up the top floor of the mansion so that we can use it as a base of operations. I have my own reasons for this. Harold will do some ghost hunting with this new super charmifier I've created, while I will use this energy to free Sly and Murray. Hopefully all three of us will be able to free the Guru. And yes, that includes you too Dimitri. Now let's get moving, we've got a tight schedule..."

Carmelita sipped her coffee as she made her rounds. She wasn't used to heading into the prison, but the e-mail that had been sent to her sounded extremely urgent, and so had the seargent on the other end. She turned a corner and walked into a cell block, filled with some of the worlds most hated criminals. She jumped as Rajan made a growl, narrowing his eyes at her and scratching at the bars, muttering under his breath how he'd love to have been a rug dealer. Muggshot was next, trying to have an intelligent argument against Jean Bison, consisting of Shakespeare and the best ways to cut up a log with your teeth. And in a small corner the Contessa was pulling apart a dead fly, twitching, with Don Octavio trying out some new songs in the next cell. Carmelita soon made her way to the final cell, in which a huge crocodile was sitting. She narrowed her eyes as she sat in the darkness, opened her snout and flicked her toungue, clenching her fist. She then got onto all fours and disappeared into the darkness, suddenly pressing herself against the glass looking right back at Carmelita. And when the scare had sunk in, she gave a gnarled toothy grin and a wheezing laugh. She spoke with a strong southern accent.

"Inspector Fox, I've been expecting you to my current domain. Y'all think jus' cause I'm behind bars that my hatred and threats must be gone huh? And it looks like y'all forgot how much I like to scare people. Pity." She giggled with a slight girlish glee, and clapped her hands. Mz Ruby had never truly grown up, and had spent a lot of her life alone. The lonliness had certainly gone to her head. But her eyes lit up as Carmelita held up a warrant. And Mz. Ruby knew exactly what it was for...

Shelia set up the wire as King added powder keg after powder keg to the growing pile. She watched as he waited, and at how his eyes flickered into joyful glee as he struck a match. She was feeling pretty cold herself. After all, they were in an old house that was probably infested with Voodoo magic reminders. Walking round had not changed her opinoin with candles lit all over the place. Each room was full of huge skulls and masks, as if to frighten intruders. Tiki obviously enjoyed his decorations, and his own ability to make the place look like a proper voodoo lodge. She looked at King again, but saw him as a young child, playing with his new toys. Suddenly she saw him make a turn as he looked at his reflection in the flame. He stood up, brushed his hands down, and ran, with Shelia close behind. The entire mansion was filled with the deafaning noise of its own destruction. The entire first floor was alredy engulfed with flames, and Shelia was just adding the final vent fan to stop it from reaching the floor below. Like anybody wasn't going to notice this, she thought. As they did so a huge helicopter flew towards the explosion, and came to rest on the ground next to the Mansion. Carmelita hopped out and took a look at the damage. Gwen heaved herself and Mz Ruby out to check. She turned to Carmelita.

"So, what to do next? Ruby can get us to the different places, but I really don't think this will work. I mean, a criminal loose out here?" Gwen watched a Carmelita fingered the rubble. She lifted up a small piece of a tiki mask, embedded on a skull like object. She took a look at the small fortress and guard Barracks, then at the various different areas. She looked at the front area of the mansion, with its decaying plants and huge gates. She then turned her attnetion to the now one-floored mansion. Taking up her shotgun, she made a point over to a small town in the distance.

"Tommorrow we return at midnight, just as the message said, and then...and then." She paused and thought of what could be done against Tiki. There were guards littering the entire area, and she knew that only a fool would attempt an arrest on thier own in a place like this. She picked up her com-link, and contacted the nearest HQ.

Harold and Bently made thier way through the vast jungle. It was an incredibly creepy place, and Bently was almost shaking. He took out the map and looked it over a few times, and lowered it to see that they had reached thier destination. Bently shivered once more. He wasn't normally afraid of ghosts, but...He quickly wheeled over to one of the stone tablets and read the inscription.

"According to this, we're in the mosilleum of not a few bodies, but a ghost summoning area. Here many ghosts can travel, but the riddle tells me that we should be doing a few hiests from inside. It may look creepy, but I know for a fact that Tiki has good contacts. Meaning..."

"Meaning he'll actually have equpped the area with a huge anount of security. Needed to trap..."

"Sly. My guess is that he's inside, and while you can easily help me with the puzzles, only I can be ushered in, for I know the what the plans are. That, and I owe Sly a bunch...GAHHH!" An earsplitting noise starteled the both of them, and a white specter in a robe came floating towards them. Bently was terrified, but Harold had whipped over and pulled the sheet off. Underneath was a poor soul with a huge shark biting on its tail feathes. The ghost gave an errie glow, and an irritating squawk. And Bently knew exactly who it was...

"CAPTAIN LEFWEE!"

The captain brushed himself down and pulled the shark away from him. His hat was in tatters, and his face was pretty smarmy. "Aye, that I be, Bently. To think that I, the smartest man on the seven seas, should end up shark bait. And I blame you! I feel like tellin ya that I'm now the smartest ghost in the seven afterlifes, and who has the last laugh now!" He crowed, but Bently shook his head. Harold was still trying to bat away the ghost shark as it came to him. Bently scratched his chin in thought, and finally had a brain wave.

"Lefwee, I'm here to rustle up some ghosts and...

"Take them? You can have them! To think I choose this relaxing resort as my resting place and it gets interrupted by stupid ghosts moaning and groaning all over..."  
"Fine, fine. Listen, If I can get rid of them using Harold here, could you possibly join us briefly for this scam against the guy who summoned the ghosts here in the first place?"

Lefwee thought about it, and shook his head so vigourously that it came clean away. Attatching it back, he cleared his throat. "No, I need more than that. I might be dead, but ya can still make it worth my while with a bit of booty, eh?"

"Uhh...I can, but I don't know what you could possibly want with it where you're going..."

He watched as Lefwee nodded and gave an' ARRRGH!,' and handed him a talisman, winking as he did so. Bently nodded and rolled over to Harold, handing him the Talisman and attatchint the ghost pack. Harold starained his neck to look at Bently addin the final touches.

"So, why do you need me to help? What can I ..."  
"These ghosts are fast, Harold. I need you to catch up to them and tag them, draining thier energy. I'tll be hard with all the secret caves round here, but I have an eighty-eight percent confidence in you. And that statistic does mean that there's a chance that too much mojo will probably either overload the machine and curse you."

Harold lauged and nodded sarcastically. "No pressure then." He launched himself at full speed, running faster than he ever had before. What a thrill it was to be running again with the wind in his face and a set of creepy ghosts to capture. He glided round the area, tagging his fisrat ghost and watching as the gauge on his arm filled up. He lurched round a corner as the second ghost made its way into a small cave. He ducked and followed, tagging any ghost slow enough to fall behind. Soon only this one ghost was left, riding along to the mosilleum. It turned and jeered, only to find itself caught by Lefwee. A few minutes later and it had been dissolved to little more than magic. Bently gave Harold a thumbs up, and attatched the flask to a small tanker on the door of the mosilleum. He made a signal for Harold to stay back, and he wheeled into the dark area. As he ventured inside, he realised that he'd forgotten just how scary it was to be alone agian. Technically he wasn't, but it felt like he was. He suddered as he thought back to how scary it had been when he was alone in Prague. Rounding the first corner he assesed the situation. Sly was asleep, streched out on a slab, unable to move. Various weapons surrounded him, along with a couple of laser defences and inescapable elevator music. He then spotted a small computo, and quickly whipped out his hacking disk. Heading over to the controls, he hacked in and commanded control over a small virus. He scoured the system, and reminded himself of how long it had been since he had seen any real tough hacking action in the past few weeks. He dodged the nodes and other protections, and made his way round all obstacles. He thought about His first hacking attempt, and thought at how prominent that was now. It seemed that whenever Sly was captured, it took Bentlys own skills of hacking to do the job. A thiefs job of hacking helping another thief. He'd draw up a chart of it later, right now he knew what had to be done. The computor finally blinked and sent out a powerful shock to the lasers. They disappeared, and Bently wheeled up to Sly. He began to stir and finally opened his eyes.

"Gee, Bently, am I glad to see you. I think I know a little of how we can get Tiki..."

"Doesn't matter at this current moment," said Bently, unlocking the shackles that held Sly. "What matters is that we get Murray. Hopefully he'll be absolutely on top of his situation."

"Right over here guys!"

They turned to see Murray running inside a treadmill like a little hamster, panting and trying to reach the cheese dangling above his nose. Sly had already dashed over and was hitting as many buttons as possible on the control panel. Murray found himself still inside the treadwheel, but now it had detatched itself from the machine and was heading out of the building. Murray screamed "I CAN'T STOP!" as he hurtled over a small lump and through the doorway, leaving Sly and Bently to watch him roll. Murrays journey kept on and on, until he began to think of his master. He adopted a determined look, and got into ball form, rolling towards a swamp gat. He burst through its doors, only to see the Guru fending off a huge swamp beast. It knocked his walking stick out of his hand and got ready to pounce. Instead it found itself yelling in pain as Murray smashed into its back, and it sucked itself down into the swamp water. The Guru looked up, and for the first time in his life, he slowly spoke in english...

"That's... my... boy!"

Bently waited for Dimitri to stop playing with the cue cards, and set up the projector.

"As many of you may well know, Mz Ruby is ready to be freed, and Tiki is ready to take his potion. Here's the plan...I'll sneak into Carmelitas makeshift hut and free Ruby. I'll bring her here and then jet over to save Penelope with Shelias help. Then, I'll need Dimitri to poison the water in the water works. This will contaminate the enourmous potion in the swamp vat, as Tiki needs to bathe in it. He'll come running, take a dunk, and won't get a single drop of power. Finally I'll have him duke it out with Mz Ruby, and the rest of you can completely strip his house bare of treasure! See...I always have a backup objective, thanks to Operation Bad Vibrations...uh, are they that bad?..."

The area stood quiet for countless minutes as the wind made gentle breezes and the animals made thier nightly noise. The small makeshift wooden shack in the distance housed the incredibly evil Mz Ruby. Ten years of waiting had gone into her confrontation with her former pupil, and she wasn't going to let anything get in the way of it now. She remembered how she had first met Sly, thier deadly battle over the swamp, and she knew that ther Cooper gang was her current contact. But soon she would have her revenge...she'd take down tiki, absorb his mojo, and finally use it to wipe out the Cooper gang. She looked at the bars holding her, and knew that soon she would soon be free. Bently opened the door as gently as he rolled across to the scheming crocodile, his brow slightly damp. She folded her arms and turned away.

"So ah was right, it's the Cooper vibes that a-comin towards me now. This wasn't common knowledge, Turtle. What makes you think I'm gonna help you?"  
"Well, Panda Kings helping us now. Surley you just want to defeat your former pupil for misuse of his power, right?" He scratched the back of his head, wondering if he really was having this conversation. She picked at her fingernails.

"Fine, sugah, I will. But if see you gang-a-crossin, then I'm gonna come after you. You guys normally upkeep bargains and stuff, right?"

"Right...now, we need to go, before Inspector Fox makes her due entrance..."

Dimitri waded throught the sewage. The smell of rotting fish and bones wafted up to his nose. He gagged, but he kept moving. I f was far more prefferable to swimming in the stuff. He started to think he was right about giving up diving...he was a forger at heart. Going into retirement wouldn't be so bad...a little house in paris, a studio, and he'd be set for life. Maybe it was time he gave up the Cooper gig, cramping his style and all of his fashion. He watched as the water turned green, and checked his watch...it was 11:55...only five more minutes and the 'package' would be en-route. The finishing touches were added, and he sat in the water, and removed his breathing mask. The tiki guards began to come forward, and he took each one out with a dart or two. He looked out to see the Tiki Cheetah himself making his way towards the vat. This was it...

Penelope sat in the darkness, afraid. She knew that if she so much as moved she would either hit a mine of wake up the swamp beast. Tiki had already ordered her to create some new types of weapons, and she had only just realised that he had actually just been trying to torture her with fear like a lab rat. And she was no lab rat. She gently moved to check the area around her, and realising it was safe, pulled out a torch. She set it down, pulled out a pen and some note paper, and tried to make sense of what was going on. If her math was right, then Tiki wouldn't have taken the potion yet, and she had been inside her prison for over three hours. She suddenly froze as the Beast made a stir, and its head poked out from the water. It looked sleepily round, sneezed, and went back below the surface. She sighed with relief, and suddenly found her mouth stopped by a hand. She looked up to see Bently, his weelchair held up by a cable on the celing, and he slowly pulled her up with the wire raising him. They stood on the roof, and before he could say anything, she fell into his arms. Shelia stood in the background, arms folded, happy she had done her good deed for the day.

Tiki was already settleing himself inside the vat, and the clock finally struck twelve. But...something was wrong. The vat bubbled as Tiki emerged, he clenched his fists and...okay, maybe nothing was wrong. Dimitri mopped his brow and Tiki wondered what was going on. A famillair voice came from behind him.

"So, Tiki-no-wanna, we meet again darlin."

He swiveled ound, and norrowed his eyes.

"Ruby, my teacher. I thought you fled when I betrayed you years ago. Still, I shall ask you to leave. If you do not..."

"Knock it off, Charles," Ruby yawned, "You and me both know that underneath you're still a colledge kid...after all, it was only a year ago that you became Tiki. That island party that you threw was a disaster. It's no wonder the natives thought your glasses were cool, because they got brains like fish-paste! And I know your voice still breaks..."

"It DOES nOt...oh dear." He clutched his throat and removed his mask, revealing a weedy cheetah with thick milk bottle glasses, his eyes filled with anger. He pointed accusingly.

"That does it! We're gonna dance to the deatch, right here...RIGHT NOW!" He put his mask back on, and began hurling shapes at her for her to dodge. Mz Ruby dodged them all, and launched some of her own.

In the meantinme, Sly had managed to travers the complex, with a huge sack of jewells already ladedned across his back. He flicked all off switches, and opened the huge double door as the gang were finally let in. They all stopped and stared, as a huge pile of gold stood before them. Panda King bowed, and the others began to haul the gold. Sly smiled and turned to Bently.

"One more for the vault, eh?" Sly laughed, and the gang heaved sacks upon sacks into the underbelly of the van. Suddenly, Mz. Ruby came flying through the wall, and Tiki stepped through the new whole.

"A-HAH! See...I had the backup potion all along! Of couse, it's past midnight..I'll try again tommorrow. For now I'm gonna enjoy poundin...WHAT! MY TREASURE! IT'S...YOU!" He turned to Sly, eyes blazing. Bently suddenly found himself accidentally pushed as Tiki sent Sly and the rest of the gang into a magical force-field. Small tribal guards gathered round and kept the feild up. Bently had had enough, as he rolled behind the cheetah.

"Hey you, neanderthal! You need some lessons in chemistry as to what happens when I do this!"

Tiki turned to see bently mixing some water and adding in a vibrating magnet. "As you csan see, the vibrator is making the water go crazy, but the magnet is pulling the gravity all over the place. The mini waves are attacking the bar, as you can see, creating a cool wave." He watched as Tiki stood, bemused. Bently continued. "Earlier today I added a huge magnetic force to a tiny capsule and attatched it to your back. I then added a vibrator to the nearby pool of water in this building, with a second magnet. The minute I press this button you will be pulled towards the force, the seismic vibrator would activate and several waves of water would engulf you. Enjoy, and I hope we've all learned something today..I have." He pressed the switch, and Tiki was pulled as fast as possible into the pool. As he did, LeFwee lept out and glared horribly at Tiki. He may have been late, but he was certainly not unwelcome...

_The gang held me up like I was some kind of champion, and I was proud that for once I had done it...science had triumphed against bad magic. Tiki was unfortunate to be knocked into a generator while he was wet, due to the scare of LeFwee, causing a further shock. Both he and Mz. Ruby were locked up by Inspector Fox. _

_It was great to finally be seen as 'the hero'. I enjoyed every minute of celebration that we had, and amongst the excitement I forgot that it was my birthday. While I believed that there advances of presents were a little disappointing to the hopes of a new biological warfare set to take out enemies, Sly came through with it once we ransacked a nearby gift shop. With a break from the usual RALTIO business, we saw the sights of Boara Boara and relaxed. Sly was a little aggaravted that I had even asked LeFwee to temporarily join, but He lightend up when I brought out a ghost vaccum to hold him. One less in the van is fine by me._

_Sly, Murray and I were almost used to being apart from each other, and realised that this outing had proved that if the Cooper gang ever got into a mess, our good friends would sort it. That, and they'd make a fine gang on thier own. Hmmm...I wonder..._


	8. Secret of the pyramids

_It was time that the RALTIO gang got thier comeuppance. Making our long way to Egypt, we decided that it would be best to take down the leader before we went after Gasilja or Raleigh. We discovered Raltio himself was now in posession of yet another Cooper emblem piece, and we got to find out a little more about him._

_A born adventurer, he had read about my own ancestor Slytunkahmen, and developed an obsession. He was always picked on for being the 'little rich boy,' but got his revenge by using his money. Many tutors wondered where thier pupils were, and also mysteriously disappeared when Raltio gained an F in science. As he grew older, and rumor had it that he had been driven mad by the many cursed treasures he had collected in his travels. Eventually he created the RALTIO. Everybody seems to believe that he created the RALTIO so that he could relive some dreams and sell some goods, but Bently keeps mumbling to himself everytime it comes up at the meeting._

_He's currently relaxing in Cairo, hoping to use the emblem piece to discover more about my ancestor. Seems to me that this Toucan needs to be taught a lesson about what happens when you mess with a Cooper..._

_SLY AND THE GANG IN..._

_SECRET OF THE PYRAMIDS _

The restaraunt was incredibly beautiful. Water cascaded from a fountain as the area stretched round it, with the other view being the city itself. The markets were bustling with noise and people, the hot sun beating down, and the hooded arab warriors protecting thier interests. A toucan in an explorers gear was sitting at the back, making stiff movements typical of its kind and sipping a martini. Sir Raltio was looking over his notes, the different Cooper signs and the Cooper emblem itself. Watching the clock, he picked up the paper and began reading. Any minute now and his rendevouz would be here...He watched as all eyes turned to a certain young woman, who smiled sweetly as she walked through the room of rich arab traders. She sat at the table of Raltio, who lowered his paper and sat up. He glanced at his watch and tutted.

"I expected you hours ago. Where have you been?"

Gwen removed her headscarf and sat back. She pushed forward the photos of the entire Cooper gang. "This is who you're looking for. I decided it would be best for my co-partner mz. Fox if she were not to hear that you were our contact. If what you say is true, then I believe that Inspector Fox will be none the wiser that you have our full protection. Now I don't normally endorse this kind of activity, but i'm sure you'll agree that a good few thirty thousand dollars wouldn't go amiss..."

"A corrupt police officer, what?" Queried Raltio, sitting back, "you're my kind of totty!"

Gwen shook her head. "I'm not corrupt. The minute I've done this, you become a criminal like Cooper. Even if you don't escape I will be forced to double cross you, so you better get your facts right." She handed him a small purse. He opened it, pulled out the call card, and slipped it into his pocket. They shook hands.

"I feel that this will be a very benifittable relationship. Y'know, you're not like Neyla. She turned down our proposal years ago. I hear she was ravaged by some powerful mastermind. Still, if you can provide the secrecy, I can provide the money, what? Anyway, you do your bit, and I'l do mine."

Gwen stood and left, with Raltio returning to his newspaper. From under a table two tables away, Murray put his hand to his mouth. If what he had just heard was true, then Sly and the others were in for some big trouble...

Bently and Sly walked through the Bazzar, avoiding anything that was offered to them. Bently had been to Cairo many times, and he knew that it was easy to get in when you knew the right people. Night had fallen, and Bently sat Sly down at the back of the room. No-one even batted an eye lid at his wheelchair. As they ordered drinks, a beautiful singer came on, singing to a slow eastern guitar tune, and the two began to talk.

"So pal, where's the contact?" Sly looked in the direction of Bentlys head movement, and came to rest on the singer. "Her? most turtles have a little black book but you have the whole yellow pages!"

"Very crude Sly, but I have indeed made enough friends in Cairo. Now, she knows several people associated with the RALTIO and all of its secondary members. Most villains go through them for thier funding, including the KLAWW gang and Don Octavio. Now LeFwee also knows a few people in the business, thanks to the amount of calling cards he's stolen, and he will be vital in my plan. First we need to find out exactly who controls what over here. I've no doubt that Raltio is not the only big cheese around here."

The singer kept going, and Bently acknowledged the waiter as he recieved thier wines. Sly watched as the singer finished, and applauded with everone else. Then, he tipped a coin loud enough to make her look thier way, and she hurried off. Bently gave Sly a smile, and watched as the Vixen herself came to the table. She sat in the middle of the two thieves, and gave the coin back to Sly. She turned to Bently.

"Quite the charmer, your racoon friend. He gives an extremely generous tip. Now, I've managed to get info off of several guards, and I know exactly who owns what. The Raltio owns fifty percent of this area. If you find yourself in a rich looking area, then you're on his turf. The man's obsessed with everything aristocratic. Don't worry about the Krensi gang, as they keep away from Raltio. They own thirty seven percent. You getting all this?"

"Sure, RALTIO fifty percent, and Krensi thirty seven. But is there anybody willing to try and take down the both of them? Who owns the other thirteen percent?"

"It's shared between the T.A and the Scarabs. The Scarabs are pretty viscious, because they think they're not getting enough. If anybody is likely to turn anybody against the RALTIOs, it's them and thier leader, Sobeka."

"Sobeka...Sobek? He was an egyptian god. Now why on earth..."

"Sobek, god of water. He used to make money by offering clean water to the homeless who actually had money, and forced many a rich folk to pay or he would poison thiers. He earned the name and the rest is history."

"I see...can you tell me anything else?"

"Well...all of the gangs are pretty suspicious of each other. But Scarabs got undercover guards all over the place. He thinks he's safer with a couple of moles on the inside. If he got them to actually do something he could easily scare Raltio out of his wits, and he'd lose power completely. That, and it would bring all of the gang leaders into the open. Combine that with the arrival of the police and ...nothing. Sorry guys, but the police are owned by the gangs round here. Now, if we were talking about interpol, or even a national matter..."

Sly leaned forwards. "...and boom. Inastant arrests. Sounds like a plan, but how are we going to find the Slykuntahmen stuff..." He jumped as Murray patted him hard on the shoulder, panting.

"Sly, it's Raltio, I just saw him and officer Gwen. He bribed her to protect him, and then she went and told him who we all were, and how he's like totally untouchable...and stuff."

Bently wailed. "This is terrible! The plans all ruined..."

"Actually, it's made easier." Sly was really on the ball today, throwing the situation around in his head. "Think about it, the other two gangs get arrested, and Raltio flees to the Pyramids. We follow, he leads us straight to the temple and naturally have the Cooper piece with him. We nab him, and it'll be a piece of cake." He leaned back, pleased with his work, while Vixen gave him a wry smile.

"Charm, good looks and a brain...I'm impressed. Does he drive too?" Sly shook his head and pointed to Bently and Murray. She laughed, stood up, and gave a small wave, taking her leave. Bently grabbed his note book, and showed the guys his plan...

Sly jumped onto the rooftop and looked into the distance. He breathed in as the view of the Pyramid stood before him, looking increasingly tall as the sun went down. He made sure Harold was still en-route following the first guard, fading into the shadows when the guard looked round. Harold took in the code that was punched in, put his thumb up, and transmitted it to Sly. Sly took it in, and ran down the huge cable attached to one of the vents. He slid through, travelled up a long tube and found himself inside of a lush lobby, with fountains, smooth marble floors and rich arab bosses watching the world around them while sipping martinis. Sly headed round to the buffet room where a huge amount of guests were sitting round a table. Sly took a look at the smartly dressed crocodile who smoked a huge cigar. No doubt Sobeka, as his guards and his pin bore the emblem of a scarab beetle. Next to him was a timid looking polar bear who was constantly mopping his brow. He had several guards cooling him from behind with giant palms, and they bore K symbols on thier robes. They must be the Krensi gang. The T.A gang was easy to spot thanks to thier large T.A badges, but they were led by two twin hedgehogs who scratched thier heads with embarresment. Finally, at the head of the table was Raltio and Reptil, the only member without important business. He was very twitchy, constantly going for his sword every time someone passed him. He now wore a smart suit with an Arab head cover, but a glint of gold from underneath could be seen, and he also had rings on his long fingers. Raltio had just picked up a bread roll while the hubbub was going on and tried to cut it open, when his hand slipped and cut a small part of his wing. Making sure no-one was looking, and still not noticing Sly, he pulled out a heiroglyphic bar with the head of a jackle on top and waved it over the tip of his wing. To Slys amazement the cut glowed very slightly, and disappeared. Raltio slipped it back into his pocket, cut the roll, and sat down. Sly was speechless...how had Raltio gotten his hand on..Sly thought back to what he had read in the thievious racoonus entry on how Slytunkhamen had never really stolen the golden wand of Metoba the second, but he had never seen it for himself. This must be it, thought Sly...another reason to get at Raltio. He took a few photos of the guest, when the entire room hushed themselves. A huge candle lit cake was brought in, and the entire room burst into singing 'happy birthday'. The two hedgehogs were laughing now as the cake neared them, and Sly saw that its inscription read 'Happy Birthday to jake and rodger, young leaders of the T.A.' The hedgehog on the left began to hug his twin, and everyone applauded. Raltio then stood, and Sobeka nugded a few of his guards. Raltio cleared his throat.

"Friends, our order was divided up many years ago between our four families. Now, I know that the T.A gang did not own th largest cut, but they were indeed worthy of what they had done. Our two twins here today are true leaders, and thier youth has hardly ever made any mistakes. So lets give another applause to the Terrence-alfon twins, what?" Everyone applauded, and Raltio laughed. But his face then turned sour, and all of the Raltio gang began to smile. "Jolly good, jolly good. But they have made past mistakes..." He stared at an empty chair next to the twins, and then turned to them, "...and I personally don't think it's too acceptable. Happy Birthday twins, you look calm for two fellows who, oh, I dunno, gave some bloke a wrong job and almost let the authorities onto us all. Young leadership, everybody, isn't what we need. New blood has proved careless. And it is our job to rid ourselves of carelessness. Jhonson did not deserve his death...but you two certainly will!" Just as he spoke those last words, three enoumous mummies wearing striped phaeros headresses lept forwards, and made ring around the T.A gang. They chanted some untold language, and soon the entire gang was gone, except for the twins. They shivered as the tallest Mummy stepped forwards, gave a bellowing cry and grabbed them, disappearing in a puff of green smoke. Raltio folded his wings with a smile as Sobeka walked towards him.

"Raltio, I gotta hand it to you, that was the best birthday trick ever. Thirteen percent is mine now, right?"  
"Right. I'll sign the papers here and now. With our luck, the truce will ensure that no more foul-ups will occur. Here and now the gangs are all united until the situation asks for a change.We are undercover...no-one leaves unless they are a guard. Everyone else controls operations from thier bases alone. Soon we shall be back in business forever. This is going to be a right sticky wicket that we will all get through...or risk the loss of our orginization."

Sly looked on as Sobeka shook Raltios wing with one hand, and crossed his fingers with the other.

The police car stopped as Carmelita turned off the engine. She stepped out, headed up the stairs and brought out her keys, fiddling with each one. Gwen followed closely behind her. The Cairo nights were certainly humid, and the two officers headed into the base. Seargent Rasher and Inspector Barkley were going over plans on how to counter the many supposed Gangland problems. Business had been pretty slow as of recently, with hardly any leads on anybody. The police had practically all but left for the night. Carmelita sat back and thought about what Sly must be up to. He may still be a criminal but they were legally still married. She pondered the idea of his arrest. If only he'd give himself up, then she could let him go on a court of law. But she was still upset that his memories were obviously not gone, and that she'd been living a lie. The kind of lie that definitely comes back to haunt you if you're not careful enough about how the other hides it, or how it came about. She watched as Gwen joined the Seargent and Inspector on thier plans, and she wondered if a transfer to F.A.W would be worthwhile. Going over the plans in her head, she thought about how Murray had kept the team on track. Even she knew it was true. Was he the influence? Perhaps not, she thought, as she picked up a magazine and began to read.

Bently finished setting up the cards and waited for the gang to settle down.

"This is it guys, the fundamental part of my super geius plan. Once we've done this, we need to head out of Cairo. To begin with, I'll have Sly, Shelia and Harold disguise themselves and challenge the Guards of Raltio to some games that they know. There's one guy who alwys wins, and I'm sure that Harolds running, Shelias bombing and Slys pickpocketing is sure to come in handy, and blow the undercover guards cover. Murray will pilot a special train with penelope into the dam. When they get there, I need them to plant LeFwees holding box in the pipes to spook the guards. Finally, I'll set about with Dimitri, Panda King and the Guru to sabotage Kerensis firepower and air cons. If this works out, each gang should blame the other, as the events I've played out are related to the others styles. Raltio will escape, and we can tail him. This is going to be so cool!"

The market place was full of suprise as RALTIO guards began hauling peolpe away. People were forced back inside 'For thier protection' while others were simply given a warning push in the back. Sly, Harold and Shelia were also getting rid of people, albeit in a friendlier yet firm way. Harold eyed the guards around him and raised a hoof as more people cleared. The parrots, dressed in arab gear, were going for thier swords whenever people protested or mounting thier arms. Once the entire square had been emptied, the guards upturned some buckets, stole a couple of wine barrels and began thier own game. The first was a bet to see how many times they could pin horseshoes round a camel post. The men stood in a line waiting for thier turn, but Sly made sure that he was always at the back. This was so whenever they all leaned to see what was happening, Sly would steal thier belongings and replace them with small cards featuring Kerensis handwriting and signiture, forged by Shelia, telling them how naieve they all were. Sly then moved the line along, got to the front and pinned the perfect horseshoe. He smiled at Shelia, who stood next to the camel. Then the man set up a small race track, and got out thier camels. Harold stepped forward to a rather smarmy looking rhino, who was putting what looked very much like roller scates on the camels feet. Harold tapped him on the shoulder and flexed his muscles.

"Now, you look like a guy who knows how to race. But I bet I can outrun both you and your camel in ten seconds flat! " He began to do some streches as the rhino looked him up and down shiftily.

"Sorry, I don't do bum bets. I know I can outrun you on camel-back, so don't try and scare me."

"But look at these leg muscles...I can take it!"

"Fine, I'll do the bet. Just don't try and do anything funny or I'll brain ya!" The Rhino saddled himself up and gave a grunt. Harold made a track sprint pose. The gun went and the rhino zoomed off, with the roller skates propelling the camel forward. But one look beside him showed that Harold not only had the upper hand but had already encircled him twice. As he did so a huge eruption came from the drinks stand, seconds after Shelia had scuttled away. The guards, who had been distracted by the race, had not noticed Shelia creep up to the area where an undercover Scarab was watching and had rigged the stall, where all thier stolen earnings were kept. They turned on the member to see that his badge was now revealed, and they lept upon him. The other three escaped, happy to know that the job was done. Meanwhile the Scarab member was beaten to a pulp, emerging with a bruised and battered appearance. They held him high in the air, and dunked him in a nearby camel troth.

The small cart train pumped along the track as Murray pressed the handle up and down. It stopped and Penelope planted a bomb on the track. The explosions were all set up, and Murray began to pump the other way to the mine. Penelope smiled and closed her stopwatch.

"Brilliant! With the bomb ready we can activate them at the mine to alert the guards. Then not only will the entire track be out, but we'll also have planted LeFwee in the pipes long before they get there. Okay Murray, hand me the detanator and let's get going!" She held out her hand, but he shook his head.

"Sorry Penelope, I guess I lost it. Umm...oh dear." He sat down trying to remember where he'd put it, and a small click was heard. He sat up to see the detanator below him, and the track made a bleeping noise. Penelope and Murray grabbed the pump and began to slowly build up speed along the track. They were soon followed by an explosion, carrying on up the track, and Penelope noticed some figures in the smoke.

"On no, the jackals have already got here! Murray, you keep pumping for all you're worth, and I'll throw some gas bombs to hide our scent. If I can plug in my rocket, then we can speed along the track and bind LeFwee!."

Murray nodded and kept pumping. Getting out her wrench Penelope got slowly down onto her stomach and pulled out he rocket booster. She held it at the end of the cart and began to screw it down. The closed her eyes as the debris and wind flew past her, but she stayed determined. The gave a few turns and the rocket was in place. Pressing the button made it fizz into life, and the entire cart sped away. She looked back to see an oil spill all the way along the track, and Murray strained back as well.

"Sweet mother of chocolate cows, It's an oil feild! The flames will like get bigger, and the crops will be like all burnt and destroyed, and the guards'll be all angry and they'll smash and..."

"I know, but we need to think about it later. I wish I'd checked that we had the detanator...but the oil was purely unexpected! Bently will be real mad at Scarab now. You know how he hates environmental attacks. We'll have to get LeFwee out before those guards catch our scent again."

Penelope then tried to stop the rocket but found the button jammed. "Damn, we're going to have to jump! I'll attach LeFwee soul into the back. Hopefully if the car will crash into the mine entrance and release the soul. LeFwee will know what to do. Now one...two...JUMP!" They jumped, and quickly hid behind a large rock. The cart hurled towards the mine and crashed through the entrance, deep into the mine. The soul was already free after it had been bumped out of the back thanks to the low ceiling, and the swift jackals made thier entrance. Before them stood a plague of undead miners and pirates, and LeFwee at the head brandishing his sword. They gave a terrible cry and charged, while the jackles yelped and ran into the distance, thier tails between thier legs.

Kerensi sat around a huge ice block, waving his hand in front of his face, and wearing beach shorts. His guards stood around in fur coats muttering about it being seventy degrees outside. In the vents, Bently was opening the flap, and making sure the guru knew what to do.

"Okay pal, I'll grab you and hold you above a guard. Posess him, and make sure that nobody sees what we're doing through a series of distractions. We'll take over from there." Bently listened as the Guru awnsered in his strange dialect, and laughed. "Oh, I agree. It's always fun to make guards suffer embarrassing scenes of payback. Let's go!" Bently dropped Guru, and he lept onto the Guard. Using his new control, he hid under the beetles jacket, and stayed there, controlling thier mind and making sure that they made no movement round the vent area. Bently tapped his com-link and began whispering. "Okay, Gurus in posistion, and I need you to un-block the water fan ,Dimitri."

"Right on, smokinfish heading towards the big spinning thingy." Dimitri put his goggles on and dived beneath the waters surface. He managed to see a few things on his way, such as Reptil getting a grilling from several guards. They kicked him, and waited for Raltio himself to pick him up. Reptil made no noise, but had a sad look in his eyes. Dimitri carried his new rifle and aimed for the underwater airlock. It bubbled and made a rusty creaking while Dimitri punched in a small dtector. He checked for obstacles and made his way through. The next area was filled was a gyrating noise, huge underwater gusts and one enourmous fan right in the center. Dimitri noticed the water switch right at the bottom, and slowly made his way over. Pressing the switch the moss filled room soon emptied its water, the noise dying away. Soon Dimitri was over at the fan, and looked around for the nearest object to jam it with. A curious young guard entered, and Dimitri gave a wicked smile. Seconds later, the deed was done. He activated the com-link and made a bird whistle. Bently tapped in to Panda Kings wavelength and secured the link to his ear.

"Right King, has the power gone out on the old security?"

"Indeed, I shall begin the destruction!"

"good, Guru, I need the bug to be up there posistioned on the power switch so that the guards'll pin it on him. Make your way upstairs after leaving the clue at the vent. Quickly, we havent got much time!"

Kerensi could instantly feel the sudden warmth returning. He looked up wide eyed, and began making gestures and warbling noises as he tried desperately to keep cool. The guards noticed the problem, and headed up, just as King had finished deactivating the equipment and setting a few well timed bombs. The entire roof was soon destroyed, save for the door leading from the roof to the inside of the building and the patch near the generator. It was a comical sight as Kerensi opened the door along with several guards only to realise there was no floor below them. Seconds later and the were helping each other up. Kerensi looked bewildered until his eyes came to rest on the beetle hunched over the genrator controls. The Beetle loked behind him, and gulped.

"Right!" Roared Sobeka, his gun draped across his back. He ushered his guards together and headed out into the square with them."It's time to get out and frisk the RALTIO and Kerensi gangs! That's the last time I send my boys out into a RALTIO set-up! And Kerensi deserves the frisking anyway! And...hey?" He stopped as he saw the other two gangs had had the same idea. Both were in the square, gangs together and guards readied. Raltio and Kerensi approached the Mob-boss. Kerensi cowered as Sobeka bit his cigar and pressed his full height agressively against the tall Raltio. "You arn't seriously going to try and oust me out are you?" He leered as Raltio gave a nod and cocked his head to one side.

"And Kerensi...but it seems that we would be wiping each other out. And if my instant thoughts of us being in open square arn't enough, then I'd say we'd been had."

Kerensi put his hand forward. "B-b-b-but we do control the police round here...we should be fine, right?"

"Right," sneered Raltio,"and no gang war can be interrupted here..."

"Not so fast!" They turned to see several Interpol officers, led by Gwen and Carmelita, both with guns outstretched. Raltio rushed forward to Gwen before she could stop him.

"Gwen? But...full protection?" Sobeka was now furious.

"so, you had inside protection all along!"

Gwen was now shaking. Sly and the gang were watching the whole precedings from a rooftop, and Bently was wringing his hands. He knew that if Ralito blabbed, Gwen may just do something deperate to save her job.

"Gwen, don't you remember? You gave me protection after I gave you the money..."

"Shut up..." Gwen said softly, not moving, gun pointed at Raltios head.

"Gwen, I know you had some problems over with Interpol...well, you do have a record that I had to burn, not to mention the treasure you made me haul. And then you go and help lock up my gang! I only foun d out yesterday, and I think an explanation..." But Gwen had pulled the trigger. Raltio lay supposedly dead at her feet. The squad team had heard enough, and instantly cuffed Gwen and the troops. Sobeka was still shaking after being sat next to Gwen in the squad car. Bently was now panicking.

"NO! If Raltios dead, then the plans failed! We've lost the last piece! We've..." Suddenly, a figure appeared and approached the solitary body. It was Reptil, with a small staff, the very wand of

metoba that Raltio had used earlier. Within a few seconds, Raltio was on his feet, the wand having revived his crumpled body. He clicked his neck and gave a menacing grin, hopping onto a camel with Repti and heading off towards the pyramids. Sly threw a homing tracker Bently had made just earlier that day, and theywatched as from the far distance below it magnetised onto the camels fur. Bently took Sly to one side and gave him a pat on the back. "Well, I did tell you that this was almost it. The penultimate peril Sly, the penultimate one. But if we're gonna win...we're going to need those relics he's using to keep himself alive!"

It was after the gang had arrived at the desert camp, that Sly had gone over the plan. He checked the room to see that everybody was fast asleep, and tiptoed to the main room where he had assembeled Harold, Shelia, Bently and Penelope. He sat down with his hot chocolate and put his feet up.

"Well, guys, our resident geniuses have done it. Those booby traps'll be easy to look over, but I'm still not sure about that we'll make it without facing those mummy goons of Raltios, so I suggest going in tonight." Everyone nodded thier heads.

"I think," explained Penelope,"That it would make sense to do this in tag teams...me and Shelia, Harold and Sly, and Bently over the com-link and computor. This way we can apply our appropriate skills to the appropriate trap." Sly sipped his drink and sighed. The way things were going, they may have the emblem piece by the morning. He wandered wether or not Raltio would be finished once the piece was retrieved, but previous experience had proved that this was never normally the case.

Harold passed through the darts with ease. So far the temple traps were easy to dodge with his speed and Slys stealth. They could even see small things that proved the criminals had been round earlier, such as a ripped hankerchief lined with the letter R. Sly suddenly had the most extraordinary feeing that he was being watched. Shelia and Penelope followed closely, walking through and deactivating each trap so that getting out would be easy. They too had noticed a strange feeling in the air, and were terrified when Harold let out a yell. A huge pair of red eyes gleamed at him, revealing themselves to be one of Raltios mummies. Harold and Sly stood back to back as more appeared, and they readied themselves for attack. Harold ran forward and knocked out a couple of mummies, while Sly slashed away with his cane. His heart raced as the spooky paralatic feeling creeped in slightly, but before he could give in to it, Penelope and Shelia had deactivated the contraption creating them...a hologram. Harold scratched his head.

"Hang about, if those were holograms, why did they feel so real?"

"Hard light," explained Shelia. " It allows them to become solid. That Raltios a con-man, I wouldn't be suprised if there weren't a few other things he was lying about."

"Quite right my dear."

They turned to see that they had reached the end, and standing before them was a small temple room where the various gods would have once been worshipped. Around the area was several piles of gold and artifacts. And in the center was Raltio and Reptil. A huge barrier of magic appeared around the gang, and Raltio held a goblet while pacing. He then turned his head and gave a short sniff. "Raltio is no name. My name is Barnabus. Raltio stands for Rome, australia, latvia, Tunisia, Iceland and Orleans. Each discloses a location where I have a special hideout. And each hideout contains what you see here, and more," He snapped his feathers and held up a huge sceptre,"You see, while my tricks are merely illusions, I would desire not magical staffs, but permanent immortaltiy. I must collect every magical item that can do this. Because only one being has ever had this ability...CLOCKWERK!" Sly gave a gasp and attempted to break out. Raltio sensed this and moved closer. "No, my friend, I do not wish to return your friend. I have no pure hatred for anybody, therefore I cannot. But I do want immortality. I created the gang because each member has an item that could bring me this..the cooper emblem piece! With it, I shall have unlimited acess to the recessess of the future,without ever feeling pain, or hardship. Richer and richer for the rest of my days, what?" He gave a high pitched annoying laugh.

"Why? Why would you possibly want to live forever?" asked Shelia.

"Simple, young one...to see how I can reach the past by being part of the future!" These words made Shelia give up and turn to Sly.

"Sorry," She murmured,"It was worth a try. I thought he might have been distracted enough for you to come up with something by now."

Sly noticed that Reptil was sitting in the background. He had just opened a small hatch in a statue and removed a book. He suddenly began reading from the book, and a small rift appeared. Barnabus turned and was shocked to see the rift growing. Reptil quickly stood behind him and gave a push. Barnabus tried to hold on to a nearby statue, but slipped and flew back. Within seconds, the portal had gone. Reptil smiled, and held up the wand. He opened the cage by simply clicking his fingers, and a surge of power seemed to enter him. He scratched his chin and nodded.

"Hate, eh? Hm." And with that, he disappeared. Sly stared in disbelief, and the others grabbed the piece in the corner...

_We'd gotten the piece, but with an odd end. Raltio was destined to float in limbo, forever cursing himself. We knew Reptil was a villain, but we didn't know to what extent. And we still don't know who's side he's on..._

_With the penultimate emblem piece, everyone was feeling pretty relaxed. I was on edge, worrying worrying as to wether I should be concerened for the good guys...or the bad guys. Of course, we did get to have some great times at the pyramids of Egypt, but all I could think of was how desperate someone would have to be to want nothing but eternal life, without ever ageing or feeling pain. And the more I thought of it...the more I thought of Clockwerk. We'd delt with that in Russia, and I was still one of the only ones to know of Bastofs demise. My worry was that both Raltio and Bastof had immortality...neither had hatred. Who could possibly have posessed that much hatred..._


	9. conspiracy of the clan LADDIE!

_We'd finally come to the chilly and vast feilds of Scotland, the final emblem piece being hidden here. Of course we still have problems as our previous visit to Iceland left us on the wanted list of my old enemy Raleigh. He managed to make himself a leader at last due to the defeat of Raltio and has renamed the group the Raleigh gang. Of course there are only three official members left, the second being Gasilja. It was Gasilja who brought Raleigh to scotland, meaning that he's certainly determined to help his master. He now wants to take the castle of glanmoore while Raliegh takes the emblem piece. We have to act now if we're going to get that last piece. None of these help us feel better seeing as Bently was the first one to point out the surfacing of an ancient creature scaring the locals...the loch ness monster..._

_SLY AND THE GANG IN_

_CONSPIRACY OF THE CLAN (laddie!)_

"..It has come to my attention that there is a traitor in our midst," said Bently gravely, his head slightly tilting forwards. "Obviously i'm worried. And I know for a fact that it's been going on. My first sign was back in Egypt. The oil feild should have been detected, there was no way I should have missed that. Sombody either didn't tell me or covered it up for themselves. Next was thinking back to New York... but other things were cropping up in my mind. The failure to fully defeat Gasilja in Iceland came to my attention when Shelia decided to do it herself. This means tHat one of us didn't do our job to its fullest extent. Either they own up now, or at least remember what it's like when we're a good team...a family...well, just keep your heads above water and check for any activity. And please, this is important..as in deadly." Sly considered everything his small green friend had just said. He admitted that, yes, a lot of thier recent plans hadn't worked the way they should have. He went over the various events in his head. New york had gone pretty much to plan. Why would Bently be using that as an example,unless he knew the exact moment that somebody wanted to slip up. Which could only mean that Bently knew exactly who it was. Dimitri stepped up to Bently to just affirm that it wasn't him, and Bently nodded and waved him away. Sly knew that Dimitri would be the first to protest, mainly because he was the most likely suspect. He was ,after all, a little grudging against the gang.

"Well i'm sure we can safely say that the saboteur must be a little respectful," explained Penelope, "We haven't had any unsucessful missions. If I didn't know any better, i'd say he was too scared to betray the team."

"Agreed." Bently set up the cue cards and sat back thoughtfully, glancing at the gang. As they stood looking glum, the guru made a solemn sentence in Dakshi. "You're absolutely right," said Bently, pouring himself a drink, "This is a sad day for the clan. I can only hope that those who know or are indeed the saboteur can still bring themselves to co-operate as a team from now on. Now I think it's time we had a little catch up on the true history of the villainous Raleigh..." Sly knew the story, and went on to check the library in the building behind the safehouse. Inside was a reading room where men in dinner jackets read silently. Sly quickly changed into his tuxedo and sat amid a rabble of unchecked books. Each book had been looked over meticulously, and he could tell that each had been opened extremely recently. He noticed that another book had joined the pile while he wasn't looking, and he turned to see the one who had added the book. It was none other than Reptil, who, also in disguise, was feverishly turning the pages of a selected book. Placing it on the pile without even glancing at Sly, he picked up yet another book and kept up with the searching. In anger, Reptil picked up a nearby book and placed a large scratch on the cover. He then sat in a small corner reading the now marked book. Sly grabbed the pile and headed off into another section before Reptil noticed. He pulled up an armchair, placed the books next to him, and began to check the tiltes. They were as follows:

A once and future king

Tales of Farrow Manor

The amber spyglass

Halibut: how to cook it

Edgar Allen Poe: a study

Cats and thier hobbies

Landmarks

Around the world in 80 days

Ice Man cometh

Natural wildlife

Sly noticed that each had a scratch, but Reptil must have been searching for some sort of book in particular. Sly could see nothing relating the books until he stacked them on top of each other neatly. Each of the first letters lined up spelt AT THE CLAIN. He knew what the Clain was, and he knew where it was, a pub on the other side of town. It then occurred to him that Reptil must have been looking for a particular message. He must have been given a list of books, checked each, and must have been looking for a physical note or clue. If only he had just looked at the list, thought Sly, if he indeed had one. writing the message down, Sly crept out of the libary while everyone was engrossed in a book, changed into his 'working' clothes and lept out onto the street. The first thing he had to do was make sure that the gang were all safe, and he would make his way over to the Clain. As he did so, he realised that he had no idea what time he should be there or if the rendevouz even knew what Reptil looked like. He shimmied up a drainpipe, and headed off back inside the labrary, this time through the upper window. He ran across the bookshelves un-noticed, and brought out the com-link.

"Bently, I'ts Sly. I've just found Reptil, and he's been checking out a tip he's been given as a coded message. He was given a list of books and...well, to cut a long story short, let's just say I cracked the code and he's still in the dark as to what's goin' on. But I need some more info. Could it be any use to us?" He waited as he heard Bently bring out some sheets of paper and file through them.

"As a matter of fact, Sly, that library I see you've entered is owned by Raleigh. Many of those books you may recognise from his old hideout. Anyway, Reptil will probably be contacting his guy now to see if he can crack the code. Get Me of his phone wavelength and It'll be so easy to impersonate the contact." Sly made an affirming grunt and tapped in the wavelength. Sure enough, Reptil picked up the mobile and moved to a corner of the room. Sly listned in though the com-link.

"Hello," Reptil awnsered, with a certain firmness to his voice. It was Bentlys turn to put on a mock voice.

"Uhh...good evening my friend. Now, you know what time we're uh, meeting?"

"Of course, the fist note said eight. But the rest of the notes led me here. Are you trying to get your hands out of our arms deal?" Sly noticed that Bently had given a silent shock to himself. So that's what the RALTIO had been dealing in. Bently made a negative grunt. "Then... why hasn't any shipment of mechanical parts come in?" Sly was now doubly intrigued. Raltios aim had been true to the RALTIO membership requirements so far...why was this deal not connecting? Sly kept listning.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you where to go..you'll just have to get there." Reptil hung up angrily and kept going over a small note. Nothing clicked, which Sly found strange to happen to an obviously intelligent person. He headed off to the Clain just as the clock struck seven, changing quickly into his tux.

The Clain full of scottish dogs, each with firey red beards and kilts. They were watching a football match in one corner, and a solitary figure sat with a drink in the back. He was a weasel, with a beret and a white shirt, followed by a kilt which didn't cover his knees. The sight of the smartly dressed racoon seemed odd to him, but he knew that his must be the rendevouz. He stood up and held out his hand, and Sly readily acknowledged.

"I'm arthur...arthur Weasal. Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise. I hear this is a pleasent little town."

"Aye" agreed arthur, "I've spent many a moonlit night out here. Now down to business. After our bosses failure many years ago on the welsh triangle, it's obvious that he needs you to get some extra protection. The police have tightened things up out here and we was wandering if you'd tigten up security with a team down at the castle. In the meantime I need you to tighten up security and machinery around the town. Get some of your boys to do some public speaking and the like. Here's the blueprints...and don't you dare let them fall into the wrong hands."  
"Don't worry," grinned Sly, knowingly, and quickly slipped them into his pocket.

'Right,' barked Bently, the information and blueprints readily clenched in his fist,'It looks like a few things have come to light. Raliegh needs a team down at the castle to decorate his stately home and tighten up security. Shelias already pinpointed all of the security points around the castle, and all of the rooms that need rennovating. This is going to be one of the funnest missions we've ever had...you see, we can plant bugs and detonators wherever we want while we're decorating, and we don't need to worry about security, because this time, we ARE security! However, Raleigh must never see Sly-he knows him too well to ever mistake him for a decorator. What you can do ,Sly, is take out any guards or help us with our jobs that we can't do because we can't leave the castle. Our jobs are so far as follows in order to find out more about Ralieghs fears of the loch ness monster and an apparent auction in which he wishes to buy something of infinite value...The emblem piece itself! I want team A, Murray, Panda King and Guru, to hypnotise the groundskeeper and get him to open a special valve. Trust me, it's all part of the plan. I want team B, Shelia, Harold and Penelope, to get through the houses security cellar and unlock that one unaccessable area. Raleigh wants personal possession of that one. Now, let's get into character-if Raleigh gets so much as an incling that we may be phonies, we're history!'

Raleigh tapped his foot impatiently. He'd been waiting on the doorstep of the Castle mansion for over ten minutes and there'd been no sign of any workers. Gasilja loaded the last of his things onto the longship and jumped in. Raleigh hopped over and handed a note.

"Well, my friend, it appears that you will not be here to witness the rennovations of the Mansion. How will I know of your return?" Gasilja checked his axe and inserted it into the holster on his back.

"Ah, I'll be back, you betcha. just make sure the...creature doesn't come-a-calling while I make my journey. How will you use the ocean while i'm-a gone?"

"My boy, I was an accomplished and upperclass pirate you know. This is nothing new to me. My pirate ship as it were is parked behind the castle. I'd better be going now-I can see a van approaching. Good Luck...and let Reptil know of your journey!"  
"I will, you betcha!" said Gasilja, and he sailed off as fast as the secret motor in the bottom of the hull would take him. The cooper van, albeit disguised, rolled up and parked in the centre of the courtyard. Raleigh hopped over and began tapping his watch.

"I believe that I asked you to be early...and you give me a tardy start! No matter, I will not let us start on the wrong foot, welcome to my 'home'. Ahem,uh...shall we head inside and have a short tour?" As Raleigh bowed and led them inside, Sly gazed from his binnoccucom. Next to him was Bently, who gave him a quick sign to ask if everything was alright. Sly looked up and nodded, snapping the com shut. Bently scratched his chin.

"Well, this is certainly going well. But the large ominous shadow that keeps appearing under the lake is an obvious worry. I know Raleigh has some kind of control over it...and let's face it, we've faced our fair share of mythology many times!"

"Yeah," said Sly, looking to one side, "listen...what if our saboteur tries to botch this mission. You know who it is, so...talk." Bently hung his head and rubbed his nose.

"I'm afraid it's...Murray." Sly gasped and tried to awnser, but Bently held up his hand, "I know, I know, you're afraid he's turned. I'll tell you why Murrays doing it...you see, when Murray saw you again, he was so happy to think that we could be a team. But the minute he found out exactly what was going on he...well...worried. He didn't want the gang to split up just because the job was done. So he believes phsycologically that by stopping the team from winning, he ultimately has to keep delaying us. But the big lug can't bring himself to do it. He loves us too much. So I asked a couple of the guys together and confirmed who would leave after the job was done. Harold, Dimitri, Shelia and Panda king will stay in touch, but none want to stay. Penelope and Guru will stay on. And maybe, if you can, we can sort out this business with Carmelita. I'm sure she'd understand eventually." Bently placed a hand on his old friends shoulder,"But we've got to get back to the job now. Soon we'll need to get you to do some surveying. You clear with that?"

"Yeah," nodded Sly, and he went back to watching over the gang.

Team A headed to the balcony, constantly checking for Raleigh or one of his butlers. As soon as the coast was clear, Panda king hoisted guru and planted him inside his canon. Murray was busy talking to Bently about the plan.

"Don't worry," assured the Hippo, " We got it. Guru will be shot out of the canon in an extremely awsome style, then Panda king'll use the rockets to direct the dude to the valve, cause guru won't be able to see so well thanks to the groundskeepers totally lame maze garden. Then, when the valve at the end of the garden is open, me and Sly'll slip in, and kaboom!" As Murray yelled this, Guru flew out of the canon as Panda King clapped his hands in delight. "Bently, part one of phase one is over. Now for the cool part...not that, uhh, that last part wasn't cool..." Murray scratched his head and quickly hung up. He worried that everything he said would be noticed now. After all, he was the saboteur...and he knew that bently knew. What was he supposed to do? But these questions would have to be awnsered later. Right now he had to focus his attention on the amount of destruction going on outside. The noise was minimal thanks to penelopes noise inducer, and eventually Guru made his way to the true point of the valve...the greenhouse. Murray got into ball form and lept down, jumping into the valve just as Sly had arrived. Murray headed over to a lever and began to pull on it, but was interrupted by a small tap on his shoulder.

"Okay pal, all you have to do here is open that lever so I can get over those lasers. We've got time to kill...talk. I'm worried about you." Murray turned away and let go.

"Ya'know what it was like for me when I was in the Contessas cell all those years ago? It wasn't nice. I may have actually lost my freakin nerve. I never wanted us to be apart again, so...well, you know."

"But why did you leave then after Bently forgave you? I know you had to find yourself, but..."

"I wasn't thinking right, I had to go. The guru taught me that you guys are my greatest life, and then you left me. I think..." Sly was already across the treasure room, grabbing the emblem blueprints and skidding back. Murray just shook his head and headed outside with Sly. As they looked up, they noticed that both the guru and Panda King had dissappeared. Sly gave a quick goodbye to murray, and, still a little mystified, hopped over the hedge. Murray decided that his master and King must have just gone inside with the others.

Team B were in the cellar, checking out the security code. Shelia looked in her mythology book to see if there was anything about the monster, and at the same time she checked out the many widescreen monitors around her. It seemed odd to her that they showed only the lake, and all from different angles. The room was certainly no security station. Penelope adjusted the final two wires and forze as the beams flickered out. Harold sped through the vast network and hid under the table of the now unblocked area. Penelope and Shelia hid behind one of the portraits as Raleigh hopped down. He muttered something about faulty wiring and quickly fixed the wires. He switched on a small controller, and Shelia and Penelope craned thier necks to watch the many screens. To thier horror, they watched as a huge shadow appeared in one of the screens. It had glowing red eyes, and made a horrible sound every time it moved. Raleigh headed out again, not noticing Harold who was now crawling out from the table in the rooms center. He looked around to see if he could catch a glimpse of the girls, and sure enough, Shelia and Penelope crawled out. Penelope brought out her R.C car and handed it to Shelia.

"Look," she said sharply, "The truth is that I know you havent really been given much to do through our adventure, and it's no secret to me that you're leaving. Now that harold has opened the hatch, I think I'd prefer the navigator of the crew to handle this one. I know I've been a bit resented towards you but..." She suddenly found Shelia giving her an immense and appreciative hug, before she set to work like a child with its new toy. The R.C made its way through the many tunnels before ending up in a room not marked on the tracker. Penelope, controlling this, punched in the hack code, and, surley enough, she got a new readup of a secret room. It was Raleighs ultimate control room, according to the code...why would any room be called... "It's a setup!" she cried, "Someone must have told him what we were going to do...but how..." then she looked above her as a huge hand grabbed her entire face...

Sly was extremely confused. He, Dimitri and Bently had been left at the house with absolutely no clue as to what had happened to them. Bently checked his watch repeatedly, and threw down his papers.

"This is no good, Sly! We need to get to the auction before Raleigh begins the bidding. Can I trust you to wait here, without any interruptions?"

"You go on," yawned Sly, " I just have to watch out for Gasilja and the rest of the gang turning up, right?"

"Right," nodded Bently, and he and Dimitri headed out. Sly tried to piece together once more why the Cooper emblem had been scattered in the way it had. Obviously this had happened some while ago-his cousin had only surfaced when he was pronounced dead. Had the Raltio gang been searching for it that long? And Sly had the feeling that, being an object that would grant the abilities of my many ancestors who used magic, would immortality really be one of the powers on offer? If not, why would Raltio have wanted it? Raleigh certainly had no means of taking it...in fact, there didn't really seem to be much of a connection between the villains he had met in the Raltio gang before. For the KLAWW gang it was simple-trading spice. They needed several members to do that. But what WAS the goal of the RALTIO? Sly grabbed a paper and pencil and drew out several sketches of the possible conclusion. First was Raleigh, who was a scientist and genetic enhancer. Raltio would have wanted him for his genius, he supposed. Gasilja was a viking who earned his wealth through plunder...Sly thought back to what he had been told:_The Raltio is the richest crime ring. Only the rich may join it and earn its rewards of even more money. _True, but using his current evidence, this only applied to a few of the members. He remembered how close Reptil had been to Raltio. Perhaps he was originally his adviser...maybe he asked some members to join or to be looked into. But what was THAT connection? Sly scratched his head in thought and continued to think more carefully.

Bently kept his cool. The auction was going to be a tough one, something he had acknowledged the minute he saw Raleigh and a rather shifty bunch of gardners sit in the fist row. Dimitri sat in a far corner, just in case Bentlys bids did not go down well or look slightly suspicious.

"Item number forty two," yelled the auctioneer, "Is an odd fractured piece of wood that many reports claim to be valuble and a legacy of a rich family. How many do I hear for it?" The auctioneer noted Raleighs gesture and yelled "£300 to the frog," Followed by the raising of Bentlys hand. But the auction just seemed to lose itself. The crowd, not bidding, watchedin awe as the frog, lizard and tutrtle gave a heated round of bids. But just as the bid came to £10 000 pounds, Ralirgh announced a further "£20 000!". Bently turned to Dimitri but only recieved a shrug and a shake of the head. The auctioneer was just about to bang his gavel when...

"£100 000 000!!!" The shocked audience turned to see an incredibly slow slug burst through the door [well, 'burst through' in the loosest sense of the word, and slide towards the stall. He placed a huge couple of bags of english notes on the floor beside the auctioneer, and was handed the piece. Bently looked hurt, but Raleigh looked absolutely furious. Dimitri headed back over to bently.

"Guess we got another heist to pull of at that old slugs shack, hey bro?"

"Indeed. It seems that Raleigh is already trying to aquire it. Look!" He pointed as Raleigh and a huge, robed and hooded figure headed towards the snail, who kept trying to catch a glimpse of the oncoming figures hidden face. The figure grabbed the snail and held it close to its face.

"My master wishes to know why you have decided to purchase this item, which, in any case, would be of no use to you." The figure gave a grunt, and Bently detected familiarity in its voice. The snail was quivering.

"I...er...thought that, well, anything as popular as what I had heard must be worth spending money on..." The snail was blasted across the room by the figures own hand, steam slowly rising off of it as the entire gathering stared. Raleigh grabbed both the money and the piece, and rushed outside before anybody could even think. Bently pointed to the door and grabbed Dimitris arm, reving up his wheelcair. A few moments later, and they'd gone through the doors, as the onlooker began to help up the snail.

Sly was frustrated at the fact that he couldn't for the life of him understand what the connection was. Was he being TOO complex? Or too simple? He scratched his head, and looked up to notice Gasilja riding in on his small motor powered longboat. He must have finished his errand for Raleigh a little earlier than usual. Sly ducked and noticed Raleigh and a large, hooded figure running towards the water, followed by Bently and Dimitri. Dimitri, losing himself in the moment, ripped off his clothes and activated his gear from underneath, diving straight into the icy water. Raleigh grew angry, but rather than heading for Gasilja, headed for a small door that rounded round the castle just as the lake did. He lept down and followed Raleigh, unoticed. Gasilja held out a fist towards the two thieves approaching as he lept out of the boat. "Ah! So turtle brains and the loser come to face ME, you betcha! I let you get away in Iceland, but now I make you into yak milk pudding! Especially you," He pointed to Dimitri who was now submersed from the water on the bank, shivering, "You with your terrible accent and dress sense..." Dimitri grew angry, and saw red. He rolled up his sleeves.

"That's IT BRO! You can put down my francais rap-talk, you can dissa my mama for all you care doggy boy, but nobody pits up my funky style-free, NOBODY!" Bently noticed how...humbled Gasilja looked, especially after seeing a rather scary flash in the eyes of the already unhinged Dimitri. But still wanting a challenge, he raised his axe, and ripped his shirt, readying himself to go into beserk mode. He quickly kneeled, made a prayer to Odin, and began the battle. Bently, knowing that there was no way Dimitri would successfully win this, kept himself behind the bull at all times, trying to warn Dimitri everytime he charged. The fight hadn't gone on for too long when a huge pirated ship entered the water from the very entrance where Raleigh had escaped, with Sly already on deck.

Minutes earlier, Sly had followed Raleigh and the figure to a huge moat at the back of the castle, and was not suprised to see such a ship at the back. He knew that Raleigh had been a pirate from thier first encouter, and that his first love had always been piracy. Sly waited for Raleigh to board the ship before secretly entering the cabin, making his way to the deck entrance. He overheard Raleigh talking to the figure. "If we strike it lucky, old friend, Reptil will be here within a couple of minutes. We pin the blame on the 'decorators' who you kidnapped for me, and we sail home! Before we continue though, I want to thank you for discovering the Cooper gangs involvement in this affair. I was unfortunately uninformed of any of this...I must believe you, on the other hand were not, eh..."

"That's enough!" Sly raced onto the deck, quickly glancing at the open lake, "Raleigh, I suppose I should have known there'd be some 'mastermind' behind all this. And who's your friend?" Raleigh gave a sly smile, folding his arms and tutting.

"Cooper, Cooper, you still don't get it, do you. You still don't get why it's ironic that I'm here. As a FAVOUR, of all things. But maybe it would be better to explain things here and now- this 'friend' of my eloquent company here is indeed an old friend...and one of yours two. Meet the new and improved...PANDA KING!" The figure removed his robes to, of couse, reveal the Panda King...at least, something very simillar. Gone was the waistcoat that held the ammunition, and red fur was now the new look of the King. Raleigh was clearly readying a speech on how he did it. "The Panda King was hanging around the balcony, you may recall. Suprised that my own colleague who I slew your parents with is here, helping the Cooper gang no less, that I noticed his furrowed brow. The twitch in his fingers. He was literally itching to be evil again. It was childs play to use his mind against him. After having my guards kidnap both him and the guru friend of yours, I then altered his brainwaves, hypnotising his 'Yin' if you will, and releasing his 'yang'. After that...the final product brought the entire gang to me, except for your tiresome friends. And now..." The Panda King bowed low, and released a tremendously loud thunder technique. This blew Sly straight into the water, where he made sure that the two members didn't notice him swim to the shore.

Gasilja kept bringing his axe down on Dimitri, unsucessfully trying to get at Bently in the process. Gasilja let out a roar, and clapped his hands so powerfully, that the entire square shook. Bently suddenly had a brain wave, and sped over to two pillars, tying a piece of string inbetween hem and to each. Dimitri noticed this, and knew exactly what to do. He continued to move back, until he came to the rope. As Gasilja lunged forward, Bently lifted Dimitri into the sky using his boosters, and Gasilja tripped, caving in both pillars as he did so. Dimitri, wanting at least some credit, quickly put his foot triumphantly on top of the defeated villain. As he did so, He heard a slight muffle from behind. It was Bentlys intercom on his belt, and Bently picked it up and held it close to his ear.

"Bently, it's Penelope, and we're in grave danger! Raleighs put us in the hull of his ship because we KNOW what the RALTIO gang are now!..." The message cut off, Bently sank back into his wheelchair, and scratched his chin. It seemed that the mystery was almost about wrapped up...

Bently, Sly and Dimitri hoisted Gasilja into the electrified cell they'd built, and began thier meeting.

"My comrades," Bently sighed, "We are almost on the cusp of victory and yet one more job needs doing. Let's face it- our specialists are captured, our most powerful member has been made a monster, they control both the upper and lower lake...but there's still hope. We may not be able to simply defeat the Panda King, but we can heal his mind. And we do have an experienced pirate captain...the remains of LeFwee! Here's the plan-LeFwees ghost'll auto pilot our newly aquired ship. Once done, we board thiers and engage in battle with King while Dimitri dives under the ship, ready to insert the detonator. I have a feeling that it'll come down to me bargaining with Raleigh for the first time, and once this is all done, we head on to the van with the final piece!" Bently smiled at the select two and sorted out the files, but Sly felt that the gang was now simply together for fun-not for the emblem, or help. To tell the truth, he could have done alot of the jobs with only five members, but all the other members meant that there were always complications. He was glad that once this was over, the emblem would be his. He glanced at Dimitri, who was already suiting up. Things were about to get personal with Raleigh. Very personal indeed...

Carmelita checked her files as Gwen was escorted into the cell.

"To think," scoffed Gwen, "We could have made Interpol rich with the RALTIO funds if you had only agreed to join me. But I knew a narrow minded person like you..."

"Now let's get one thing straight- it was you who told me that all criminals are just that. Criminals. Yet you most likely deem yourself to be perfect as you are still..._were _a cop while you continued to work for the other side. Well, maybe if that's the way I've been seeing things like this for so long..." Carmelita paused. She couldn't bring herself to think with Gwen there, nor admit the truth. She simply turned and left, knowing what she had to do...and as she did so, Gwen sat back in the cell, laughing hysterically. From behind came a low growl. She turned to see an enourmous inmate with a huge moustache, a fat cigar in his mouth, and tiny legs which made him have to use his arms as transport. He came out of the shadow towards the now trembling Gwen.

"Hey," He grunted, " I'm Muggshot, and you're a friend of that Hag lady right? And you know what we do to cop friends..."

LeFwee cursed the fact that his movements were controlled by Bently, who was of course the real captain of the ship. This did not prevent the bitter ghost from spitting ectoplasm at Bently every time

he walked by. Dimitri was already under, waiting for the crucial moment where the two ships would collide. Raleigh had already spotted the crew from aboard his own vessel, and bid the Panda King turn the wheel far enough to set alongside the ship. And everything went like clockwork. The ships collided, angry shouts, Dimitri readied his gun for the com-links signal. Sly leaped aboard and whipped out his cane, his stance poised for action, pointing an accusing finger at Panda King.

"All right King, It's time."

"Piteous Cooper," laughed the king, "Has our previous meeting meant nothing to you? My mind was fractured, but has been fixed- without your help!"  
"But in a biased sense! You taught me that the mind must be of two traits to focus..." He dodged one of the kings well timed attacks, and ducked from a powerful chop. "...and this was certainly the case back in China. And...I know Jing King would say the same."

The panda Kings face became slightly noble. "Jing King..." But only for a split second. He continued to attack, and while Raleighs crew cheered him on, Raleigh noticed something the others didn't. Coopers constant movemnts and attempts to lunge at the kings head. And he seemed to be...frustrated, at every point that he missed. By the time Raleigh had worked it out, it was too late. Sly had lept at Kings head, grabbed hold, and gone into an almost instant trance. As he did so, the Panda Kings eyes went green as he succumbed to the influencial power of Bentlys new machine, one that Bently had created thanks to watching the Guru perfrom the same trick back in China. The Kings skin turned dark purple once more, and his eyes returned to thier normal state. As he did, the Panda King grew angry, and delivered a chop that removed all guards from the ship to the water, where they began yelling and swimming for dear life. Raleigh spluttered and grated his teeth, but was interruppted by Bently, who was now face to face with the genius. The tensed slightly.

"Raliegh."

"Wiseturtle."

The two masterminds flicked thier fingers, waiting for the other to make a move. "I have heard much of you, Wiseturtle. I know of your gang, of your intellect, but never have I seen it in practice. A sloppy plan, made of use by your brainpower. Remarkable. Forgive me for not detaining it, a matter best dealt with in person. I have but one backup to all of this..." He pressed a button, and Bently turned to see a huge creature rise from the water, hidden by smoke, where its evil red eyes were protruding. But the most terrifying moment for Bently was after the clearing of the smoke, where the creature was revealed to be none other than another of the madmans machines.

"...UNBELIEVEABLE!" Bently was certainly impressed. "A predictable plan, but one no-one could ever pull off. Create a monster, wreck ships, get loot. We would have done that with Crusher if we had the chance."

"I am glad to see somebody with talent who appreciates my work. This is the N.E.S.S.I.E., My latest and greatest creaton to date. And perhaps the most crucial part of the Raltios secret plan... Raltio has one goal- immortality. But we had one goal ourselves...wealth beyond compare. Project loch ness was simple-Gasilja would use the mills to create the parts of Nessie. Reptil would proide the tourists and thier belongings, and I the intellect. Unfortunately our plan was cut short due to disagreements from the other members, and aristocracy became the main point of interest. If only Sly knew what Reptil had in store for him, though..."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Time is short, Bently. Tick tock, Tick tock...oh my," sneered Raleigh, his smile curling to reveal his yellow teeth, "however will the Cooper gang survive the ultimate high seas thieving machine?"

Bently suddenly socked Raleigh in his huge jaw, making him fly back into the ships banisters. The frog felt his hat to make sure it wasn't dented, and began clenching his fists. Before anybody could stop him, he swallowed a nearby fly and blew up to the size of Murray himself, and began jumping around the deck, attempting to crush the turtle. The seamonster began to swim closer to the two ships, its red eyes gleming and its mechanics whirring away. Sly quickly covered himself with his arms, but could hear the oddest noise-the creature had suddenly begun to wail. He looked up to find the Panda King, now in full regalia, bombarding the creature with several heavy duty rockets. He turned to Sly, and waved him away. "You must retrieve the others from the hull," he yelled, " I will deal with things from now on. Jing King is waiting for me." Sly nodded and noticed a tear in the bears eye. Sly dashed to the centre of the ship and unlocked the hulls entrance, hoisting the cage inside out onto the deck using the cane. From behind, a low hum had begun as Reptil himself clmbered down onto the deck from a large helicopter. Moments later the Panda King had accidentally set fire to the helicopter when a heat-seeking rocket went rogue. Reptil looked up, shrugged off the incident, and lifted a book high into the air. Lightning struck it, and everybody fell silent.

"So! It seems that the Raltio gang has finally met its match!" He suddenly began to impersonate several different personalities, all in sarcasm, and Sly knew that the truth of the matter was coming. "Surely Raltio himself should be here to witness this moment of glory? Oh, of course, he's dead! Silly me! And what is this? Raleighs gone and built himself something that has nothing to do with our scheme, only something to further his career as a criminal?" Reptil bared his teeth and chuckled. "How deliciously predictable. They never had a plan, Cooper-I did!" Reptil splayed his hand and magical cages appeared around all prisoners. In the Hull, Shelia and Harold, locked seperately to the other prisoners, managed to struggle free from thier ropes, and quickly headed up the stairs to the deck. They watched from the shadows of the masts as Reptil paced up and down. "You see Cooper, when first we heard of your cooper emblem, we became quite excited. We are all upperclass thieves- Gaslija only entered because we needed his might and resources. No doubt the other 'people' you met hindered you, and yet it was all a fantastic performance. If only you had seen the looks on your faces when that Djinn burst free the evening before we rocketed you to kingdom come! To think that Ronnie really thought magic was at ther disposal. Not magic..." He opened the books pages and showed it to the prisoners. They were all metallic and glowed with power. "...but science! Our plan was simple. Steal the cooper emblem piece from you once you had assembeled it, or at least stop you while we tried to assemble it ourselves. Then, we would rob the Coopers of everything they ever owned, and every other criminal, becoming the ultimate crime ring and the planets next financial superpower! Children would be taught Mexican as they were readied with thier families to bow down to our new state, the ultimate country that would control every war and every government...NEW MAYA!" Reptil held the book high as he gave a diabolical laugh. Raleigh snapped his hand at the villain.

"You idiot! You've told them the whole plan!"

"Quiet Raleigh! You went on to create your own plan with your idiotic machine. Even that accursed Barnabus...I mean, Raltio just wanted immortality! This deemed him unfit to rule any such city! I claim this right as not only was it my design, but my heritage! Hotel maya and Coaticule was a mere experiment, and Raltio was too busy with affairs in Egypt. It seems only Gasilja was truly loyal. But perhaps my 'other' plan," He looked distastefully to one side, secretly looking Sly right in the eye for only a moment, "will have to wait. Now, I shall defeat you all, and begin my new era. Perhaps this machine will indeed be of use to me. Raleigh...Raleigh?" But Raleigh was now lunging at Reptil, clinging to the book as he landed.

"You are unfit to even claim credit. I will defeat you by BLOATING TO GARGANTUAN SIZE, AND SQUASHING YOU LIKE THE INSIGNIFICANT BUG THAT YOU ARE!" Sly gave an obvious start at the familliar phrase. The two villains struggled for control of the book, and suddenly stared down at the floor. Tied to Reptils foot was a cable, and the two followed it up the deck with thier eyes until they came to rest on Harold, Shelia...and an enourmous detonator. Shelia gave a wry smile and raised a hand. "You think you've got the awnsers? Then tell me..." She lowered her hand as Harold activated a hose, spraying them both constantly, "...what happens when electricity hits water on a big, fat, warty tongue!" Reptil was confused until he saw that, as he had closed the book in the struggle, Raleigh had reached with his tongue and got it caught in the book. Reptil had time to say one thing to the embarrassed Raleigh.

"Why must everything you do involve your TONGUE for gods sake!"

Minutes later, and they lit up like a christmas tree. They flew into the air, and landed on the top of the monster. The electrical sparks hit the monsters 'brain,' and it began to have a massive malfunction. It sputtered, whirred, and the entire head simply blew up. Raleigh found himself flung onto the deck, and lay in a smoking heap, groaning.

Bently shook Harold and Shelias hand as the ship washed up on shore. He had been impressed by thier plan. It turned out that Harold had supersped towards Reptil and attatched the cable, and they knew Raleigh would get angry from what they had been hearing. from there it was simple. Sly looked out to sea and heard LeFwee going absolutley mental as they reached the shore. He was the only one to notice Reptils glances at him, his secret smiles, and his immenent disappearance from the area after being electrocuted. He then became aware of Raleigh weakly calling his name. He sidled over and crouched next to the frog, who was slowly recovering.

"Cooper, in some ways, I regret this venture. I am a man of intellect, yet I have been bested by the very science that brought me here. Perhaps I was wrong to have, all those years ago, joined the Panda King and others in the killing. You see..." He looked to see no-one was looking, and he spoke even more softly, "..Reptil knew while he could never rule this superpower, his original plan was to bring back somebody who might. And I can only be glad of his disappearance. But the emblem...is deservedly yours. Cherish this moment as best you can. You have made me realise that perhaps none of us are any longer thieves. Just pieces fighting for survival." Sly nodded his head, and looked up to notice a lone police car on the shore. Of couse...Carmelita! He had forgotten in the long hours of thought that even she would return. But she didn't seem to be...angry. He lept onto the shore and approached her. Raleigh had been correct about many things, and perhaps thievery was one of them. He held out his hand and...she accepted it. Sly knew that there was much to talk about.

Reptil wrapped the blanket around himself and shivered. How foolish it was for him to actually believe that the Raltio did not really take his plan seriously enough. If only they knew of the truth of the plan- of how his ancient city in Mexico WAS the very city that, once hoisted into the sky by his own technology, would be the very next superpower. And the one who would rule it...he had been happy to see that the ship that picked him up was a U.S ship, calling by...

Russia. The very place to retrieve the ruler of new Maya...

_Carmelita and I talked long into the night over dinner at the castle. She told me how perhaps she had been rash...not just now, but over our entire meetings over the years. She knew who was right and who was wrong, and secretly, she wanted that herself. It was a touching moment...but I knew it probably spelt a fitting end to my career. Perhaps I need to retire the name, and what better undercover guise than the husband of an officer? Only, unlike last time, this time I wouldn't be faking amnesia. We're still technically married, after all._

_The gang actually decided to throw a party and to continue with the castle rennovations. Bently oversaw the work, and in the end, we had the best safehouse in all of scotland. We even invited some of the locals to the opening of the place. But the next morning, we said our goodbyes. Panda King, Dimitri, Shelia and Harold were finally leaving, and we were sad to see them go. They were going to do something to the castle, but I wasn't sure until I saw the note in the van as we drove away. It read:'The Repooc clan castle- a home for those with special gifts and nightclub.' Like Shelia and Harold realised, not every one can get what they want. They think they find it with the Cooper gang by asking to join. And now there's a place for them to go where nobody ever has to prove themselves. Not only am I impressed, but I'm also touched. And things may just be going our way for the final time..._


	10. Cry hatred, cry clo

_My adventures were pretty sweet, weren't they?_

_To think that we managed to get back the entire Cooper emblem that year AND defeated a gang that would've made a city that could've left millions homeless and enslaved. Not that that was true or anything, seeing as they were all psychopaths. Well, I figured that we'd all deserved a big break. A retirement brake. And things went well for a good year or so. _

_Carmelita and I were not exactly so together during that time. Sure, we were together and all, but there was some kind of…. regret? Because I'd retired? Or because there was something she wouldn't tell me. Bently kept me heads up on the police reports when she was out. Just because I was out of work didn't mean she shouldn't keep on cleaning the streets of crime._

_Thinking back, I began to piece together the Cooper Emblem in my mind. Sure it had thief powers, but nothing else. Just an ornament. Why would a gang of high class thieves want it? Really?_

_One evening, I received an anonymous note telling me to head over to the empire state building. It was marked with a familiar photo of one of my ancestors, but not one I ever remember. Could this be the cousin who was taken from me? And could the messenger be the final heir?_

_If this works out, the Cooper gang could be setting off to a swell year, right?_

_SLY AND THE GANG IN: CRY HATRED, CRY CLO…_

Now, Sly understood that if someone was a little late, it was understandable, but this friend was taking an age. The gang had arrived at seven o' clock prompt and the rendezvous had still not turned up. Sly quickly texted Carmelita a message about not being home for a good hour or so. Bently sidled up to him with a paper coffee cup.

"Sly, if we are going to wait for this friend, perhaps it would prove interesting to stay in case of a nightfall entry."

"Fine," sighed Sly, "But if it's a stand up, then we'll have to take the long way down."

"I just don't understand it…your friend must be in some kinda trouble, or somethin'." Murray jauntily placed his elbows on the balcony they were all on, the wind blowing gently against the structure. The people below, buzzing about, looking for their next port of call. And Sly was feeling pretty useless standing on an extremely tall building watching for anybody who entered. He was not the least bit happy at the iciness of the day, the chill of the wind. It froze him to the bone. And he was pretty fed up.

It was ten o' clock when the guard announced it was closing time, Sly decided this would not prevent him from meeting his rendezvous. He hid in a nearby barrel with the guys as the checking guard locked the iron gates to the stairway. And as Sly and the gang leapt from their hiding place...there was nothing. Bently surveyed the area and wrote detailed notes on a possible future heist. Murray bit his fingernails and checked the corners of the roof nervously. And Sly was in the middle, trying to see in the darkness if anything was there. The buildings lights came on with a sudden jolt, and Sly found himself in the centre of a spotlight, His eyes grasping to adapt to the new brightness. And he couldn't see a single person waiting. A burst of movement made him recoil, and he peered forwards to get a better look.

"You made it." Sly turned to see a figure with its back to him. It was leaning over the balcony, a silhouette against the light. He cocked his head to one side and advanced towards the figure. Before he could make a further step, he noticed the figure turn. But what made his blood run cold was a hint of familiarity in the voice of the figure.

And he knew who it was.

"Slightly predictable," Sly mused, hiding his confusion and astonishment, "how did you survive?"

"A small ship," crooned Reptil, his eyes glancing at his ringed fingers, "On its way to here, a sizeable journey from Europe. Funny," he glanced at the raccoon; "You never did believe our plan because you never saw it for yourself. A waste, that...a real waste. You've been careless once more Cooper, to think that the murder of Bastof would go unnoticed." Sly was now finding it difficult to breathe.

"Bastof...how did you..." Bently and Murray were now looking dumbfounded at their old friend at this revelation. Bently hung his head in thought as Reptil continued with his explanation.

" Sly, Sly, the RALTIO never got their facts right. A true leader is not born of wealth or immortality, helpful as they may be. No no, one is not born of heritage, as I have had to learn. But of fear...and hatred. Clockwerks design for the original death ray would have made him a superpower himself if had used it for such. Try his methods of leadership...then his taste in weaponry. They all induced fear. And hatred helps remove both sentimentality and sloppiness. Dr M could have been a leader, but obsession drove him mad. So, I did as many have strived to think of, but never to try...to make what happened to Clockwerk happen to me. I found Bastof lurking in some hovel about ten years ago and forced him into some mad idea that perhaps Clockwerk might even haunt him. He went crazy thanks to that implant the Owl put into him years ago, and he drew up plans to both enhance Clockwerk and then destroyed them. This little Jekyll and Hyde is what saved him...so he could help me! Come down, Bastof!" Sly was frozen to the spot as a pitifully winged Bastof flew down, no longer an organism now by a patch of cybernetics, with a terrifying lopsided grin on his face. Reptil gave a hideous and bloodthirsty laugh as Sly began to stare at Bastof with his mouth agape. And Bastof turned to Sly with a horrible smirk, and triumphantly murmured "I did it Sly…I got him out of me…look how I did…. look how I did it…"

"This is insane, Reptil," Sly yelled over the sudden wind that had filled the air, "why dig up the past? What has any of this got to do with the RALTIO? Do you just enjoy torturing me? WELL?"

Reptil gave a little cough and looked down. "Sly, I had to steal from the rich folk for years before I even discovered my Aztec birthright. For you thievery was a choice, for me, it was no option. I can't understand how one who likes to play dress-up in his fathers clothes could ever be a master thief. You could have lived a rather fine life Cooper, and yet you continue to give thieves a bad name. While my true goal is to create this new superpower, I delight in your suffering."

"No, that's not it," Sly was now quite calm and began to release his tension in his posture, "I had to be a thief in order to reclaim my birthright AND because I was possibly more of a down and out than you. You were poor and you could have used your thievery to change your life, not revenge. I tried to retire, but every now and then some nutcase comes along to dig up the past. It's like one guy finding something funny about someone and no-one else joining in. And if you want immortality, you can have it so that you can suffer as far as I'm concerned…but you're now a world threat, and I'm not going to stand for that." Sly held his hand out firmly to Bastof, who suddenly bore the expression of a young child, and reached for Slys hand. Reptil turned angrily to see Bently and Murray standing triumphantly, and this made him even angrier. He suddenly lashed out at Sly and hit him squarely on the cheek. He began to beat into Sly again and again, his eyes ablaze with fury.

"HOW DARE YOU! You just love to be the 'pretty boy' don't you! You love to be the one to get all the one liners and the winnings? Well this is it! New Maya will lock up anybody who bullies or upstarts me anymore! New Maya will lock up true criminals who got their trade through dishonest means, just as I would have done to the other members of RALTIO if I had gotten this far with them! Bastof! Activate the tower! OPERATION MAYA BEGINS TONIGHT!"

Bastof changed face and flew towards the tower, zapping it and giving a signal to Reptil. Reptil slapped Sly once more and held him so he could hear.

"But why should I be doing all the talking? Maybe the master should explain! The one, the only, the fowl who's out to rule the Cooper clan,...CLOCKWERK, MASTER THIEF AND RULER OF NEW MAYA!" Sly was now almost on the alert, straining to see as the huge owl let out a terrible shriek, appearing out of no-where, staying aloft facing the balcony. And Sly recognized the look in the Owls eyes that showed utter distaste and hatred. Clockwerk twisted his neck and breathed in deeply, as if the sensation felt tired on him.

"The smell of steel, the fear of mortals, and the freedom of all that is evil...how perfectly matched, eh Cooper?"

Sly was flung to the edge to stand upright, but pathetically sank to his knees." How did you return?"

Clockwerk smirked for a split second. He turned to Reptil with disgust. " So you bring me Cooper as a feast, eh? Nothing much has changed. It almost pains me to have to even consider destroying such a weak and pathetic image. Ah, but perfection is perfection, and perfection has no age…." He paused so that he could see Sly wince at the familiar line," And it allows no weaknesses. "

Sly stood up, to the horror of his comrades, "How…did…you...Return, I said." A flash of doubt passed Clockwerks countenance, and the owl clamped forwards with Sly in his claws. "I'll make this as clear as I can, cretin. When I discovered that Bastof had a gift for inventing, I took him under my wing, so to speak. But in case he ever double-crossed me, I would infect him with one of my clock spores, where he would slowly mutate as I saw fit, and only as I saw fit. He built me several replica bodies and brains, all run by my protected original brain at the same time. My brain thus far has proven quite resistible, even when you destroyed my parts in Paris. I had Bastof find my brain, rebuild me, and then I was shut down. But my colleague Reptil was interested enough to maintain my upkeep, despite Bastofs recent schizophrenic desires."

Sly weakly moved his head to one side. "If he was so good, why did you partially mutate him?"

Clockwerk leaned forward and cut Sly slowly as he released an inch of his talon. "That was for the times my body was destroyed. It was obviously not as strong as was promised. Reptil made sure he was dutifully punished…" He finally acknowledged Reptil, and gave a hard glare before smirking. "And it nearly worked..." he looked up and gave a visible look of excitement, laughing manically.

"Oh master, it seems the entire Cooper gang is in time to witness New Maya itself!" They all looked above to see a huge flying city engulf the sky, and lightning struck the empire state. Clockwerk gave what Sly recognized as a look of resentment towards Reptil as he approached the owl. "Shall we make haste?" But Clockwerk stared him down.

"You have also made a mistake. Bastof was infected, but the disease would never have made him as mutated and speechless as he is now. The plan was that he was the only one who knew how to work the machines in the lab, and that if anything went horribly wrong then I would be the one to accelerate his mutation. You, Reptil, have now made it so that, while I can be rebuilt, my hate chip cannot be restored after a number of times. You were careless in that regard," The owl swooped and landed right in front of the lizard, almost taking up the whole balcony, "...and I cannot abide timewasters." Before long, Reptil flew backwards into Bastofs path. Bastof quickly attempted to help up his master, but Reptil waved him away with a distant look in his eyes. Bently and Murray stood watching the owl in awe. Clockwerk focused his attention on them, clearly in the moment. "New York shall burn..." He flew towards the floating city, and spread his talons, and quickly cocked his head at Reptil as a signal for him to jump on. Reptil did, with Sly still in his claws. Reptil leaned forwards to clockwerks head.

"You need me to pilot the cannons?"

"That's what you're here for. Destroy the city below so that we may begin our reign."

Reptil was rather taken aback. "But…you want to be a thief, a ruler, not a destroyer?"

"You think I care? How do you think we make demands anyway? I can see the line now…'you either hand over your billions or I do to another city what I did to New York.' It's bittersweet how my hated rival should perish in my very first takeover bid. But you have already disappointed me, both with your failure of handling Bastof and the removal of that inane Neyla from my memory chips. She refuses to leave me with her maniacal chatter. How I wish Arpeggio were the one to have received my gifts, for him to be my very own colleague. His talk would please me rather more than that wenches drivel." Sly was shocked further. So, Neyla had managed to keep herself within Clockwerk. Perhaps if he could try and double that feeling against Clockwerk so that it would drive him to…no, he thought, that was Bentlys job. He sighed and opened one eye weakly to gaze at the empire state far below him…

Carmelita ran to see late night civilians running and pointing at the moonlit sky. She quickly grabbed one and flashed her badge.

"It's okay, I'm a cop. What the heck's everybody worried about?" The civilian just pushed past and kept running, but she did manage to see his pointing. Staring up at the sky Carmelita saw the most feared sight of all…a pair of wings and a fearsome bird attached to them silhouetted against the Moon. She then noticed a bunch of cops gathered outside the empire state along with her detective inspector Barkley. She ran forward to reach him. "What's happening?" She asked. Barkley didn't take his eyes off the owl as he explained.

"I know this gotta be some kinda joke, but the records prove it…Clockwerk is back. I just don't get it…look you see THAT right?" He was now pointing to the city covered in cloud, "That looks pretty ominous. Turned up bout…seven minutes ago, I guess. We've got a S.W.A.T team of bees up there, but it doesn't look like they'll handle 'em…Hey! Whattaya think ya doin?" But Carmelita had grabbed the helicopter and shock pistol long ago.

Bently gasped.

" We have to stop him before it bombards ground and destroys the entire city! Umm...I hate thinking on my feet like this. Murray?" Murray was too busy trembling and pointed a large finger at the incoming Bastof. Bastof was considerably even more mutated now, with a far larger body and skin overcoming the cybernetics. He resembled more of some nightmarish bat-giant now rather than some deformed cyborg.He bared his teeth and screamed sonic waves at Bently. Murray quickly pushed his friend out of the way and clenched his fists.

"That's it, turkey! Face the wrath of THE MURRAY!" He ran forward and collided in the air with the winged beast, and Bently stared open mouthed as his best friend overcame the creature in a fantastic aerial battle, with Murray grabbing onto Bastofs ears and tugging them backwards. Bastof screamed and came into land with Murray sternly urging Bently to hop on. Bently did so, and the two glided towards the enormous structure that made up New Maya. Bently held out his plan scrawled on a thick sheet of paper.

"Murray, I need you to get on top of New Maya and tear it to bits. The fact it was built so quick means that it'll be easy to break down due to it's less powerful alloys used. I'll jump down with you and hack into the level security system. And Murray…" He placed a hand on his friends shoulder, "…Go get em' for me, right?" Murray shed a tear, nodded, and launched himself. The falls seem to him to wind as he changed into ball form, smashing into every single turret on the city protection dome. Bently soon dragged up Bastof to land on the dome centre, avoiding Reptils missiles as he went and slamming any caught into the dome. Clockwerk was too busy flying around trying to torture Sly in his claws to notice. Bently suddenly received a strange feed on the hacking device he had only just pulled out after jumping from Bastofs back. It seemed that the feed was…well, mocking. He jacked it into the dome computer to find that the hacking interface was the same as many of the interfaces he had used previously. But, just as he destroyed the final barrier, it came up red with the entire dome glass shattering. Luckily he had managed to keep hold of the walkway, clambering to his feet and now noticing the hologram that was before him. And with the same smile of hers, Neyla made her entrance.

"So, what we got 'ere then, ey? That smelly old tortoise has got wind from the gov'nor that the old birds back, 'as he? It pretty pathe'ic if you ask me, mate!"

"You…you…Cockney robot hag!" Bently grabbed out a magnet and attempted to zone her out, but her own magnetic frequency was too great. Bently continued to hack, watching as Neyla mocked him further, until Murray arrived in ball form, smashing the control panel. Reptil suddenly grabbed them from behind.

"Excellent, you have solved the masters 'vermin' problem! And now, you will come with me or receive a much need grenade where you least expect it!"

Clockwerk brought Sly to rest on the highest tower on the city. He looked below to check the current damage, and smiled nonchalantly at Sly. "Cooper, it is good that you are here. Perhaps now I can prove that without your book or your cane that you are no more a thief than a common garden snail. Have faith, I will allow you to live now to see New York burn." Sly clutched his side and sat upright to face him.

"You still won't give up on this superpower will you? Do you really want to rule the world so badly?" Sly felt clockweks laughing strange to his ears in the current situation. Clockwerk made an apologetic face.

"Aww, you didn't really think that was my game, did you Cooper? This floating pile of slag is Reptils game, as far as I'm concerned. The boy had some nice ideas, but this wasn't one of them. Soon New York will be flattened by this rock and I will claim the land as my oyster…But Reptil and I have plans for you."

Sly grew hot and angry. "Then kill me NOW! It's better than drawing it out like this."

"Sly, why would I kill my new HOST?!" Sly tried to stand up but covered himself as Clockwerk lunged. He shut his eyes…and was flying. He opened them to see Murray holding him up just before Clockwerk had a chance to move. In Murrays other hand was a gagged Reptil, who was struggling for dear life. Clockwerk pushed Murray, who accidentally dropped Reptil. Bently tried to reach out but it was no use. Then Bently turned to see, to his horror, Murray actually pushing Clockwerk back in a struggle. Clockwerks beak was wide open like a bird ready for feeding, and Murray just held him back with all his strength. Sly tried to stand up once more, but could only cry as Murray kept on struggling.

Reptil pulled himself up from the balcony. It was a miracle he had survived. He cursed the gang…hang them, and hang their entire future! He may have seemed defeated now, but he knew that once Clockwerks world was in order, he'd return.

Murray kept on struggling, each time lifting Clockwerks head up at least an inch. Murray kept on mumbling to himself until Sly cried out.

"Murray, let go! We can get out of this!"

"No!" yelled Murray, "The problem last time was that I didn't keep his beak open long enough…I'm gonna finish what I started, I'm not about to let my friends get hurt again!"

The two friends watched helplessly as Clockwerk began to give sideways glances. Perhaps the time had come for a change of plan. The only way out of this was to make a new host, one that was big, pink…and ignorant. Clockwerk fired a pulsating beam right through Murrays stomach….

_They say that as you die, time stops. It was freaking awesome to see my whole life stretched out before me._

_There we were, a good bunch of friends. Always patting each other on the back. Always making new friends. And never wanting to let me know I was a burden. I'm not afraid to admit it…since my first days I've always been the team klutz. Always stoppin' for some chow, always acting before thinking. I can picture myself every time the guys wanted to head out and I'd rushed in without thinking, or every time it had been me who messed up the plan. And this just takes me back to that night with Bently…if only I had paid attention, if only I could've held onto that beak longer,…_

_But y'know…that doesn't matter anymore. All I can think of is what others say about me…what a great sensitive guy I am. How I'm what kept the team together. And now it makes sense to me. _

_I'm not going out with a bang…I'm goin' out singing my own freaking' theme song! My own Ballad! Cause the Murray…. STANDS TALL!_

Bentlys lip quivered as he wheeled over to the wreckage, as Clockwerk lay exhausted with Murray's body lying at his claws, His beak agape. The inordinate amount of rubble where Murray had planted his feet so firmly into the ground had rubbed off on Murray, making him appear dusty and tired. But a smile played about his lips as he gave his last breath. Sly reached out to grab his friend, and found himself launched into the air, landing to his previous point with a thud. Clockwerk grabbed Murray's body and inserted it inside of his beak, and suddenly imploded. Clockwerk began to Morph before the very eyes of Sly and Bently, his body contorting into several different shapes but his wings always prominent. As he did so, the entire floating city began to fall to the sea on the far, far outskirts, with Bently and Sly not even noticing. And soon, a hulking figure with huge metallic wings stepped forwards. And gave the most horrible grin.

"I may not have seen Murray in action, but from what I hear, this body will serve me greatly as a heart. I can feel the raw energy…just like when McSweeny attempted to pitifully pound me. Feels a little different to being an agile thief, but no matter…I'm sure I can still torture you with his pathetic voice…'Sly, Master, Murray…" A blast from behind caught him off guard and he sprung forwards. Carmelita was now fully equipped, trying to break the great beasts shell. He screamed and knelt in pain, a feeling he had not felt for centuries. He realized that perhaps Murray's resilience had bettered him as a host, for Sly would have surely broken after such a shot. Sly was already getting into Carmelita's helicopter, wincing as she helped him up. He gave her a recognizing look and bit his lip, attempting to hide his feelings.

"He…killed Murray. You can't hurt him, you can't!"

"What do you…That's Murray? But…" Bently hovered in and began to insert a small device, maneuvering the controls. He turned to Carmelita.

"Murrays been absorbed into Clockwerk…we need to defeat him! Carmelita, you take the turret and fly me in as close as you can. Now!" She nodded and flew over as the Clock-Murray spread its wings, flying ever closer and giving a horrific smile. It tried to dodge the missiles from the turret, but Carmelita's aim was steady and true. The creature screamed and trashed, until Bently landed on the turret roof. He set the controls, and brought out a small briefcase, containing an odd pair of metal exo-skeletal legs. Bently held them in front of him and fitted them on, emerging from his chair…walking. He was walking once more, now armed with his old crossbow. He aimed at the creatures' head and made a whistle. The creature turned, and snarled.

" Well, Clockwerk…this is it! Nobody kills my best friend and lives to tell the tale!" And as the exploding dart flew towards the monsters head, it suddenly bore Murrays face, a noble look, as the Dart hit it, sending it spiraling towards the sea far far below, the Clockwerk parts detaching themselves the same way rats leave a sinking ship. And that's when Bently knew. He'd just destroyed the body of his best friend.

The Clockwerk parts twitched, spluttered, and fell to the ground next to Bentlys feet. He packed these into his bag, and wept, because he'd not only lost his friend, his ability to walk and his nerve…but he'd lost his newfound courage too. Everything.

Sly opened his eyes to see the sea gently rolling in the background, and Carmelita stroking his forehead. He smiled and gave a cough, listening to the tide going out and in, out and in…She kissed his forehead.

"I'm sorry. If I had known, then…"

"Then nothing. It was what he wanted, that's all. Murray died a hero, and he gave his friends nothing. We could have saved him, Carmelita, and we could have…." He found Bently slapping him across the face.

"That's a load of crap! Murray died a hero protecting his friends, if he hadn't none of us would be here now! Murray wanted to make up for when he'd let me…y'know. He's been playing that moment back in his head for years, trying to get it right, trying to get it so that you could be safe, and you slander him like the idiot you are. Sly, Don't brood over this, Murray would never have wanted you too. In fact, I know you would do the same for him. To say he made you lose out on a friend is…well…Selfish! Selfish!"

The silence was torturous. Sly stood up, tottered, regained balance, and fell at Bentlys feet. For a moment they said nothing to each other. And Sly kissed Bentlys feet, smiling, getting up and holding out his hand. Bently cried, hugging his pal. And the two stood there, the sun coming up, and the police screeching in the distance. As the car came, they gave each other and Carmelita a wry look, and awaited the officers on the arrest.

_They say that you come out of prison a changed man. Time off for good behavior didn't come easy for me, while Sly was declared a hero. He asked if I wanted to rethink it, but my mind was made up…Prison was the safest place for me. Penelope visited religiously every Tuesday, and…well, we talked. There was a lot to talk about. I even got to meet big Jim McSweeny himself, and it just…_

_Okay, admitting time. My mind is that of a complex hybrid of science and cunning. And yet I defy all beliefs of being anti-social not just to others, but to myself. Murray…was my friend. He was more than that, really. The words…there aren't enough words in the world to describe how I feel. And yet I feel that I should be vengeful, hating everything, like Dr M. Or loathe for the Cooper clan. But it's not just about brother hood. It's about the Guru. Don't ask but I think that guy knows something I don't. Truth be told, he took his pupils death rather well when he visited. And that smile? Is there something he's not telling me? _

_Of course, Sly and Carmelita had a spectacular second honeymoon. I hear that good old Paris is still the same as ever…and still full of fine art. At least, they were. Good old Sly!_

_Times changed once I left the whosceau, and that little project of mine is still underway. And something tells me that this must only be the end of our adventures…but not for our family. Or our children's families. Or…No, that's too much for now. It's time to end the journal here. I'm tired and I've got a long week of inventing ahead of me. Keep these stories with you and treasure them, and remember that a master criminal…_

_Is only as good as a master thief. And even then, the odds are still in our favour. For now and forever. Goodbye._

Goodbye indeed…tsk, tsk, Wiseturtle. Why must you be so…pretentious? I see that I was chasing the wrong thief all these years…


End file.
